T. Brinda Biography 
T. Brinda is a famous Carnatic vocalist from Chennai Tamil Nadu. She was also a great teacher who mentored several students who later became well established artists. She represented Veenai Dhanammal school of Carnatic Music. An outstanding artist in the field of carnatic music in the second half of 20th century, she was a recipient of many honours including Sangeetha Kalanidhi award by Madras Music Academy in 1976 and Sangeetha Kalasikhamani award bestowed by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai in 1973. She was a musician who shunned publicity and refused commercial recordings of her music. She passed away in 1996, aged 84.
She was born in Madras Presidency of British India in the year 1912. She was born into a musical family of Veenai Dhanammal. She is the granddaughter of legendary veena player, Veenai Dhanammal. She received initial training in Carnatic music (in Veenai Dhanammal style) from her mother Kamakshy. She later received training under Naina Pillai, her aunt Lakshmiratnam and grandmother Veenai Dhanammal also. Over the years she evolved her own style of music, assimilating Dhanammal and Kancheepuram Naina Pillai schools of music. She also served as a visiting artist at the University of Washington, Seattle in the late 1960s and late 1970s.
Brinda taught several students in Chennai and Mumbai and believed in Guru-shishya style of disciple in learning. Brinda performed extensively with her younger sister, T. Muktha. During her later years she performed with her daughter. She always stayed away from publicity and didn’t commercially record her voice. For the same reason only private recordings of her performances are available. Famous singer Hariharan’s mother was a disciple of Brinda. She was fondly called ‘Brindamma', by her fans.
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Updated: March 12, 2016
