[Carnatic Women Musician - Part 2] Happy Deepavali to all of us. On this festive day, let us look at some more Women Musicians of Carnatic music. As you are aware, during the Navaratri time we did a thread on pioneering women musicians. This is the second part

In this part we will talk about some of the musicians who are longer with us as well as some of the musicians who are amongst us. We will talk about relatively lesser known senior musicians. Lesser known to the general public but well known in the Carnatic circuit

1. T. Balaswaraswati: Granddaughter of the great Dhanammal and the daughter of Jayammal, Balasaraswathi was known for her dancing skills. She was an outstanding Bharatanatyam dancer. Satyajit Ray shot a documentary on her, which is available on youtube

She was a very good singer in her own right. Her brother, T.Vishwanathan, was a flautist of repute. Both Balasaraswathi and her brother were Sangita Kalanidhis. If she had not gone into dancing, Balasaraswati could easily have been a top ranked singer

Here is Balasarwati sing a Bhairavi padam of Kavi Kunjara Bharathi

2. N C Vasanthakokilam: If you ask any of your elders who are interested in Carnatic music about N C Vasantakokilam, the first thing you will hear them say is, "Oh, she must have become another MS. She had such a great voice".

The first thing that would strike anyone about Vasantakokila would be her voice. It had the same quality that MS possessed. A ringing voice which was also highly melodious. Her 'plates', as records were called those days, were famous. She also acted in films.

Unfortunately for whatever reasons, she was never able to reach the peak which she was very capable of reaching. She died quite young due to tuberculosis. She was just thirty two years when she died.

Here is Vasantakokilam singing 'thandai thai irundhal', a song made famous by her. Observe the quality of her voice and marvel at how the voice obeys her every command.

While the Shanmukapriya song was a big hit, a equally big hit was this song, "yen palli kondeer ayya' Starting with Mohan and later becoming a ragamalika, this is an evergreen melody.

3. K B Sundarambal : This great lady is more known for her stage roles and film roles but she was an excellent Carnatic musician in her own right. The songs she sang in movies too reflected her Carnatic music training.

Such was K B Sundarambal's fame on stage and in films that sometime in the 1940s, she was paid Rs. 1 lakh as compensation for acting in a film. A sum unheard of by any hero of those times.

Later people came to associate her with Avvaiyar most of the times because she played the role effectively. Here she is in the role of Avvaiayar in the film Tiruvilayadal. The famous 'pazham nee appa'

Observe the ringing voice and the absolute confidence in her singing. Also observe how efforless is her invocation of each ragam in this piece. Just one stoke and the raga glows in all its splendour.

As we said earlier, Sundarambal was a superb Carnatic musician. Here she is singing 'rama nannu brova ra', the Tyagaraja classic in Hari Kambhoji

4. Kalpagam Swaminathan: After the vocalists, let us talk about an instrumentalist now. Kalpagam Swaminathan, known as Kalpam Mami in Carnatic circles, was an outstanding vainika. A true torchbearer of classical values in Carnatic music, she had a huge repertoire

Kalpagam Mami taught in Kalashetra. Due to various reasons she was never in limelight and not many of the general public know about her. The truth is that she was one of the best vainikas around. She was also a treasure house as far as Dikshitar songs were concerned

Here she is playing the Dikshitar navavarna krithi, 'kamalamba samrakshatumam' in Ananda Bhairavi. Such a classical Ananda Bhairavi.

She was a highly respected person in Carnatic music circles. Here you see S R Janakiram listening to her play 'angarakam', another Dikshitar krithi, in the raga Suruti

And how loving Suruti embraces you in the very first strokes of her veena. No wonder SRJ loudly registers his appreciation