South India: Padam, Tanjore Style Of Singing (2007)

"Tanjore is a city of over 200,000 inhabitants in southern India's Tamil Nadu State. Situated along the banks of the Kaveri (Cauvery) River, Tanjore (or Thanjavur) sits in one of India's most fertile agricultural regions. Highly regarded for its paintings, jewelry, inlaid copperware, silk brocades, and carpets, Tanjore is also recognized as a center for the unique and venerable poetic song form Padam. On this CD, the Carnatic diva Aruna Sairam gives voice to this song form. Sung as an accompaniment to the precise and exacting South Indian dance Bharatanatyam, the Padam is deliberate, slow, languid, sensual, and evoking of distinct moods associated with love. Accompanied by a violinist and players on mridangam (double-sided hand drum), tampura (drone instrument), and ghatam (clay pot), Sairam recorded this album in order to pay homage to her Tanjore "style masters" and to raise awareness about the fact that Padam, for a number of reasons, is teetering on the verge of extinction." (John Vallier, Allmusic)