Bangalore Nagaratnamma

Now and then, I have mentioned the name of Bangalore Nagartnamma in some discussions. Bangalore Nagartanamma was born in the family of a dEvadAsi. She was an accomplished dancer and singer. She knew several languages like Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil besides her mother tongue Kannada. She is known famously for the following: She edited and got published by the vAviLla book publishers the Telugu epic called rAdhikAsAMtvanamu or iLAdEvIyamu written by muddupaLani, a concubine of the tanjAvUr king. It has some erotic verses in it. The moral puritans of those days got the book banned by the British government and a court case went on for years, but the ban remained. Only after India obtained independence the Prakasam government of Madras removed the ban. Nagaratnamma was very fond of this book as she felt it was written by one of her own clan and the pundits of those days set double standards, one for male poets and another for female poets. Secondly she gave concerts all over the south and one was the first artists to pay income tax. She also invented a collapsible tambura for her travels. She fought to retain the dEvadAsi system, but lost in the battle. Of course, she is well known for her efforts to revive and reconstruct tyAgarAjA's samAdhi at tiruvayyAr. She fought tooth and nail to give equal prominence to female artists in the annual aarAdhana celebrations. She spent all her money in her efforts in the renovation of tyAgarAja's monument. She herself composed in Sanskrit an ashTottaraSatanAmAvaLi on tyAgarAja. Recently a book in English on her by V. Sriram and a dance drama called Sruti, smRti, kRti by prasanna were released. Four years ago I wrote a very long and detailed essay on her ( http://www.eemaata.com/em/issues/200711/1166.html )including translating the only song (a jAvaLi) written by her in kannaDa into telugu to the same tune. My friend, paruchUri SrInivAs in England, an avid collector of vintage songs, recently digitised eight songs by her. These with a few more details have been published just today ( http://www.eemaata.com/em/issues/201103/1698.html )in eemATa, an online journal. Since these were recorded between 1904 and 1915, you will observe the difference between modern day records and century old records. If you want to listen to history, this is an opportunity. That is why I am writing this blog. Inform your friends and music lovers too.

Regards! - mOhana

P.S.

1. Copy the link and paste it in the browser.

2. Press the loudspeaker symbol to listen to the songs. The songs are (1) nityakalyANi -1 (2) nityakalyANi -2 (rAgamAlika). There is a third part to this which my friend could not get. Incidentally this is the first "ever" recording of a three-part song (3) anudinamu - kAMbhOji (4) pogaDataramA - aThANa, almost at the end (5) aalApana gacChAmi (mukundamAla) (7) ikanemandunE (8) vyAmOhapraSamaushadham (mukundamAla)

3. If you press the orange letters after His Master's Voice, you may have a look at the His Master's Voice catalog of those days that contained BNR's songs. Incidentally her initials made people give her the nickname Bengal Nagpur Railway (basically most of the present South Central Railway).