The Madras Quartet

Women in Karnatak Music

Plot

A seminal and pioneering work delineating the struggles and triumphs of four contemporary women vocalists-M.S. Subbulakshmi, T. Brinda, D.K. Pattammal, and M.L. Vasanthakumari - belonging to the karnatak music tradition. The book traces their carreers not merely as consummate artistes with their own individual banis and genre music, but also as trailblazers who played a crucial role in the emancipation of women from a hidebound social set-up. The book highlights the tremendous influence of the Trinity of the 19th century in giving a new format to art music which helped - although only peripherally - to accommodate women in it. The daughters and granddaughters of the early pioneers were to carry forward the struggle to establish themselves on par with their male counterparts.