Sundaram Balachander
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Sundaram Balachander (18 January 1927–15 April 1990) was a prominent Indian veena player with a unique style, remarkable as a classical musician in that he was self-taught. He is also known for his work in cinema, his writing and his polemics. Balachander was a true larger-than-life personality, yet always managed to combine his eccentricity with a musicianship that commanded respect from all quarters.
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[edit] Cinema
In addition to composing film music, from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s Balachander directed a number of films, and also stood in front of the camera. However, he liked to exaggerate the non-musical side of his cinematic career: according to an S Swaminathan, who had read a book Balachander was working on when he died and reported to Usenet, he went so far as to call himself "the Alfred Hitchcock of South India". Some of his movies are: Antha Naal - That Day - starring Sivaji Ganesan and Pandhari Bai - probably the first genuine film-noir movie in Tamil. Ivana Avan
[edit] Feud with Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
In Balachander's last years, he embarked on an intense feud with vocalist legend Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, perhaps the most respected figure in all of Carnatic music – and his polemics were as extreme as his veena playing. Semmangudi had written a book on Maharaja Swathi Thirunal of Travancore (1813–1846), who was also a famous composer. Balachander claimed that Semmangudi was trying to ascribe his own compositions to a king to make them go down in history, but to argue this, he not only suggested the maharaja did not compose a note – he launched a self-described "crusade" to "prove" the king had never existed at all, even though Swathi Thirunal is a well-known historical figure, and a recent one at that. Balachander loved to stress how this was a much greater outrage than the then-current Bofors corruption scandal in India. A sample, from a letter to The Indian Express, March 26 1990:
THIS IS MY FINAL-MISSILE REGARDING THE SO-CALLED "SWATI TIRUNAL" ... WHO IS JUST A CONCOCTED-FABRICATED-&-MANUFACTURED "FACTORY-PRODUCT". [...]
THE "BOFORS" SCANDAL WHICH INVOLVED MONETARY-SWINDLE, IS ITSELF A BIG-BLOT ON OUR NATIONAL-POLITICS ... AND ... AN ETERNAL SHAMEFUL DISGRACE TO OUR COUNTRY. BUT ... IT DOES NOT AFFECT "HISTORY" IRREVOCABLY OR TARNISH "POSTERITY" IRREVERSIBLY. WHEREAS ... THE NON-PERSON "SWATI TIRUNAL-HOAX", THE ONE WHO-NEVER-EXISTED, THE FICTITIOUS-FIGURE FRAUDULENTLY FOISTED ON THE MUSIC-WORLD, NOT ONLY DISTORTS "HISTORY" BUT ALSO DEFRAUDS "POSTERITY". [...]
WHEN WE ARE SO MUCH CONCERNED ABOUT A "TEMPORARY" FRAUD & CHEAT LIKE THE "BOFORS", AND THUS ARE TAKING NATIONAL REMEDIAL MEASURES TO SET IT RIGHT, CAN WE EVER ALLOW A "PERMANENT" FRAUD & CHEAT LIKE "SWATI" TO EXIST AND SURVIVE???
Balachander's ability to go on like this while retaining respect as a classical musician speaks as much to his accomplishments as any award.
[edit] Notes
^ L Ramakrishnan, rec.music.indian.classical, August 3, 1994.
^ rec.music.indian.classical, June 25, 1996.
^ A faithful quote. See hypercomp.net/personnel/mrk/music/music.html.
