Coimbatore Thayi

Coimbatore Thayi (1872–1917) was an Indian musician.

Early life

Coimbatore Thayi was born in 1872 into a family of devadasis in Coimbatore. Thayi was the daughter of celebrated singer Vengamaal. She was named Palanikunjaram.[1]Coimbatore Thayi's grandmother was also a devadasi. In this traditional devadasi family, her artistic career began with devadasi. Coimbatore Thayi showed great talent in music and dance from a young age, her mother was her first teacher in music and dance.Her first classical dance performance was at the age of 11.[2] Affectionately referred to as "Thayi," she was introduced to sadir, which is now known as Bharatanatyam, and music at a young age.[3] Thayi received rigorous training in music and dance, learning under various teachers and Kannada singer Mysore Kempe Gowda. Thayi's family moved to Georgetown, Madras in the 1890s, where Thayi gave up dancing and focused solely on music.[3][4]

Recording success and popularity

In 1910, Thayi was approached by The Gramophone Company to record songs, and she was one of their most popular artists,[5] with a color-coded record of violet. Over the course of several recording sessions, Thayi produced nearly 60 recordings. She was honored in 1914 with a golden bracelet encrusted with diamonds and emeralds by the people of her hometown, Coimbatore, in recognition of her musical success.[6]

Thayi was a prolific recording artist, producing nearly 300 records in her lifetime.[7] Her recorded repertoire includes the compositions of the Trinity of Carnatic music, as well as sensuous padams and javalis, and Tamil devotionals.[6] She played a key role in popularizing the devotional compositions of Ramalinga Swamigal Arulpa[6]

Thayi died in 1917 at the age of 44.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Chakraborty, Dr Kahmira (2021-07-21). The Maestros. Dr. Kashmira Chakraborty.
  2. ↑ "Coimbatore Thayi, the Carnatic singer who struck a chord in Paris but is unknown in India". ThePrint. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  3. 1 2 Soneji, Davesh (2012-01-15). Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-76809-0.
  4. 1 2 "Coimbatore's nightingale". The Hindu. 2013-03-04. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  5. ↑ Hughes, Stephen P. (2002-10-01). "The 'Music Boom' in Tamil South India: Gramophone, radio and the making of mass culture". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 22 (4): 445–473. doi:10.1080/0143968022000012129. ISSN 0143-9685. S2CID 191466174.
  6. 1 2 3 Sampath, Vikram (2022-06-30). Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone, 1900–1930. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-59074-6.
  7. ↑ Utz, Christian (2021-03-31). Musical Composition in the Context of Globalization: New Perspectives on Music History in the 20th and 21st Century. transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8394-5095-6.
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