Gandharva Ganam GN Balasubramaniam Centenary Commemorative Volume

Gandharva Ganam a commemorative volume compiled and edited by Lalitha Ram and V Ramnarayan and published by the GNB family on the occasion of GNB’s birth centenary, is truly a labour of love. Musicians, scholars, admirers and followers of GNB, old and young, celebrating the centenary across the world, will agree that any such effort to perpetuate his memory can hardly be otherwise. This volume is an endeavour to amalgamate the sum of the warm, generous tributes-from a wide range of admirers-to GNB’s outstanding contributions that revolutionised the music world. The articles are grouped under four segments-Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi and Post Pallavi. The first section, Ragam, contains critical analysis by experts on various facets of GNB's music. These facets include his voice, concert plan, intellectual approach, grahabhedam and his compositions. GNB and his father GV Narayanaswami Iyer were profound thinkers and exceptional writers. The second section Tanam is an attempt to consolidate their writings. The third section-Pallavi-consists of the personal reminiscences of friends, colleagues, family, disciples and followers of GNB. It also documents his brief innings in the film field. The Post Pallavi segment documents the efforts towards keeping the GNB name glowing after his demise. A CD containing a rare collection of GNB's music recorded during his final days is offered free with this book. Recorded without accompaniment at the request of a foreign rasika on a visit to Trivandrum to listen to GNB, it represents some of the maestro’s best music. Track Details: Paripalayamam - Reetigaula - Swathi Thirunal Thamadhamen - Todi - Papanasam Sivan Alapana - Kambhoji Ma Ramanan - Hindolam - Papanasam Sivan Slokam - Ragamalika About the Editors: Lalitha Ram, a young writer, is a regular contributor to various magazines on topics related to Music and History. He is the author of the popular biography on GNB titled "Isai Ulaga Ilavarasar - GNB" published by Ananda Vikatan. He is also among the founder-editors of the e-zine, http://varalaaru.com. V Ramnarayan, Editor-in-Chief, Sruti, India's foremost magazine on the performing arts, has a number of works to his credit, including Mosquitos and Jolly Rovers, the story of Tamil Nadu Cricket, named in Wisden Asia’s top ten books on Indian cricket, a biography of advertising giant RK Swamy, Star Crossed, his English translation of Ashokamitran's Tamil novel Karaintha Nizhalgal, which was shortlisted for a national award, a biography of APJ Abdul Kalam for children, and I'm Vidya, an English translation of the life of a transgender. He has edited scores of books, both fiction and non-fiction-including MS & Radha, a biography of MS Subbulakshmi by Gowri Ramnarayan-and is the translator of Lalitha Ram's biography of GNB in Tamil, which Sruti is serializing. He is the recipient of the Media Excellence Award 2009 of International Foundation for Fine Arts presented by Music Forum of India, Mumbai. Ramnarayan is also a former cricketer at the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup levels.