Seetha Doraiswamy
| Kalaimamani Seetha Iyer Doraiswamy | |
|---|---|
An All India Radio Recording (c.a. 1950)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | G. Seethalakshmi |
| Born |
27 January 1926 Adachani, Tirunelveli District, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Origin | India |
| Died | 14 March 2013 |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Classical instrumentalist |
| Instruments | Jal tarang |
| Years active | 1937– 2013 |
| Labels | HMV |
Seetha Doraiswamy (Tamil: சீதா துரைசாமி, sītā turAisvāMī ? 27 January 1926 – 14 March 2013), commonly known as Madisaar Maami, was a renowned Carnatic multi-instrumentalist. She was the last recognised female exponent of a dying Indian instrument, the jal tarang. She was the first (and till date youngest) female musician ever to be awarded the Gold Medal of Honour from The Music Academy, the first Carnatic music Institute. She is the only Jal Tarang exponent to have ever received the Kalaimamani award, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2001 with the citation reading "(Seetha) has tirelessly worked to prevent the jalatharangam from becoming extinct and is often recognized only for that; it is time to bring to notice the fact that she championed for the cause of equal female representation during a time where our cultural norms may have not. Additionally, her theoretical knowledge was the foundation for many of the modern concepts of Carnatic music as we know it today."
Seetha (Seethamma to her family) was born in Adachani, a village in the district of Tirunelveli District (demarcated at that time as Madras Presidency, British India) to Pumpu Ganapathy Iyer and Meenakshi Iyer.
Under encouragement of her parents, she started learning Carnatic music at an early age locally from Kodaganallur Subbiah Bhagavatar and later under Gottuvadhyam vidhwan Seetharama Bhagavatar. After receiving an acceptance letter despite being 10 years old to become a member of the first Music Department established in Tamil Nadu by Prof. P. Sambamoorthy, Seetha moved to Chennai in 1937 and trained alongside D. K. Pattammal where she became the first female recipient of the Gold Medal of Honour. She still holds the record of being the youngest recipient of the award.
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