DK Pattammal: A tribute

‘Aduvome pallu paduvome, Ananda sutantiram adaindu vittom enru…’

The song from many, many moons ago came rushing to my mind when I learned that DK Pattammal had died at Chennai yesterday (July 16). She had rendered much greater pieces of course, but this one was a favorite of mine during school days.

With the passing away of Pattammal, an era in Carnatic music has ended. It was an epoch of women power, a period when three glittering stars shone so brightly. These ladies – MS Subbalakshmi (1916-2004), DK Pattammal (1919-2009), and ML Vasanthakumari (1928-1990) - were known as the classical triumvirate.

All the three were great exponents of Carnatic music. But Pattammal was unique. She was a trail blazer. In the first half of the last century ladies from orthodox Brahmin families were not permitted to sing in public. When Columbia Records (?) wanted record little Alamelu’s songs (her pet name was Pattu and that became Pattammal later), her father refused. He was finally persuaded by friends and relatives to give consent. Pattambal was ten years old at that time.

Soon she was on the radio and at the age of fourteen gave her first public concert, at the Mahila Samaj at Egmore, Chennai. Then she went on to conquer the world, performing in many places in India, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and other countries.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Pattammal was that she broke into the then strictly male bastion of Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi, the most difficult portion to render in Carnatic music. She excelled in this area and came to be called ‘Pallavi Pattammal’.

Pattammal specialized in devotional and patriotic songs. Her rendering of Muthuswami Dikshitar and Subrahmanya Bharati compositions were soul and blood stirring. She was highly selective about singing in films – no romantic pieces or duets.

Many honours and awards came to DK Pattammal. Quite naturally. These included Padma Bhushan (1971) and Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honor (1998).

The singer is gone now, but her immortal songs remain.

The photo is from a disc cover of Tamil Movie USA. To see their Pattammal collection you can visit http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/s/artist.4/

Related post:

M.S. Subbalakshmi – The Queen of Song

A tribute to the great singer, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan

Photo acknowledgment::
www.sreevalsanmenon.com/images/pages/sree12.html

One evening in 1988 I was sitting on the terrace when my wife Annie called me and said, ‘There is someone singing on the TV. He’s even better than (she gave the name of a famous singer)’

I rushed to the TV and learned that the performer was Neyyattinkara Vasudevan. I had not heard that name before obviously because of my limited contact with Carnatic music. But from that day onwards I never missed an opportunity to listen to the divinely gifted singer.

There were a couple of movies with the story line of a singer from a backward community scaling great heights in Carnatic music and the problems he had to face. Perhaps it was Neyyatinkara Vasudevan that the script writers had in mind.

Vasudevan was born in 1940 at Neyyatinkara, Trivandrum District. His father was a daily wage worker, but had an immense love for music which the son inherited. After the boy finished school he was sent to the Swathi Thirunal Music College in Trivandrum. He was fortunate to have a set of eminent teachers headed by the great Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer.

After passing Ganabhushanam and Sangeetha Vidwan, Vasudevan had training under Ramnad Krishnan in Chennai. Then the student became guru. He joined the teaching staff of RLV College of Music in Tripunithura. Many of his disciples are famous musicians today.

Vasudevan was with Akashvani for twenty-five years. He gave many performances in different parts of the world. Several honors were bestowed upon him. These included Padmasree (2004).

But I would consider Neyyattinkara Vasudevan becoming the first non-Brahmin to give a concert at the Navarathri Mandapam in Trivandrum is of special significance.

Neyyattinkara Vasudevan will not sing again. At the age of 68, he passed away yesterday afternoon at Trivandrum. His immortal music will of course live on.

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For more details on Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, please see the website of Sreevalsan J. Menon, one of his eminent disciples:

http://www.sreevalsanmenon.com/neyyatinkara.html

Also see: M.S. Subbalakshni – The Queen of Song

M.S. Subbalakshmi – The Queen of Song

Music moves earthlings and the gods. It reaches the pinnacle when there is a combination of talent, learning and commitment.

Technical perfection alone can sometimes be boring. But when knowledge of music is combined with the personality of a singer like MS Subbalakshmi (popularly known as ‘MS’), lyrics take wings, compositions become sublime and listeners are carried to ecstasy.

Here the word ‘personality’ is used in its wider meaning. It involves devotion, voice, clarity of pronunciation, capacity to carry pitches which lesser mortals falter at, application, and beauty. MS had all these and more.

There was hard work as well. Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on September 16, 1916, MS grew up near the Meenakshi Temple to the sound of music. By the time she finished the basics, her guru, Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar passed away, but the sad event did not deter her. She went on to learn, under different teachers, Hindustani classical, Rabindra Sangeeth, bhajans and other areas of music.

Since the time she cut her first record at the age of ten, MS did not look back. Hers was a life devoted to music, except for a short stint in cinema that she combined with her singing. Her ‘Meera’, released in Tamil and Hindi, was a runaway success.

MS gave concerts before distinguished audiences in different parts of the world. She sang not only in Kannada which was her mother tongue but also in Tamil, Telungu, Malayalam, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and Sanskrit. She was bestowed with many honors. These included Bharat Ratna. MS was the first musician to receive that distinction. Pandit Nehru is reported to have said about her “Who am I, a mere prime minister, before the Queen of Song?”

MS Subbalakshmi, the nightingale, died at the age of 88. For downloading her songs, visit Downloads of M.S.Subbalakshmi's songs

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Also see: Dances for the gods.