She enriched the Dhanammal legacy
RITHA RAJAN
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Mukta ably supported Brinda but retained her identity by adding fresh interpretations.
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Muktamma's rendering of portions of songs an octave higher was so captivating that it made a deep impression on the listeners.
Photo: K.Gajendran.
GREAT SCION: T. Mukta.
About 85 years ago at Kancheepuram. The two young girls were excited that they were going to have the much-awaited outing with the vaadyar (guru) to Chinna Kancheepuram on a bullock cart. They had just finished an arduous session of music learning and practice.
During such outings, while the teacher discussed music and conversed on various matters with his friend, the girls passed their time happily, playing with the friend's daughter who was their companion on such occasions.
It was time to leave and the guru asked the young students to sing some of the songs taught by him. The friend was all praise and admiration for their music, the friend's daughter and mother were simply captured by the music. The companion who was also more or less their age, was astonished that her friends had left their home, come to Kancheepuram all the way to learn from the great vidwan Kancheepuram Naina Pillai. They stayed in a house opposite to that of the guru on Putheri Theru (renamed later as Vidwan Naina Pillai Theru) at Periya Kancheepuram and managed their stay with the help of a cook arranged by their mother. Being the grand daughters of the legendary Veena Dhanammal, they were members of a great music parampara and in order to enrich their Tyagaraja repertoire, had come to learn from Naina Pillai.
The young girls were Brinda and Mukta. After the guru passed away, concerts were held every year in his memory, at the Kaccheeswaran Koil, Peria Kancheepuram and invariably, the sisters paid musical homage on the occasion.
These concerts were very much looked forward to by the whole music loving public of Kancheepuram who heard with nostalgia, the majestic compositions of Tyagaraja, Tevaram and Tiruppugazh popularised by Naina Pillai. It was by listening to these concerts that I was introduced to the music of Brindamma and Muktamma by my mother, their childhood companion.
Appealing confidence
Brinda-Mukta started giving music performances from a very early age and could sing all the challenging compositions so elegantly with appealing confidence and style. A remarkable feature was the way they effectively presented the grand compositions as duo. In Brinda and Mukta, we find a unique jodipattu (duo singing) that totally belonged to the past era, with the two voices intertwining, each with its distinct timbre. They would not rehearse and hence it was not tailor-made. Together they sang the compositions naturally and spontaneously. Muktamma's rendering of portions of songs an octave higher wherever it applied was so captivating that it made a deep impression on the listeners. She made a valuable contribution by thus ably supporting Brindamma and at the same time retaining her musical identity by adding fresh musical interpretations that never trespassed the territory. Mukta would never blindly imitate her senior. There was a subtle difference between the two, even in the same song version, even while singing together but therein was the charm of their music.
That she contributed much to the rendering of compositions made one forget the fact that Muktamma did not offer her share of raga alapana or swarakalpana while singing with Brindamma. One would always cherish in memory their renditions of `Janaki Ramana,' `Buddhi Radu,' `Sri Rajagopala,' `Mamava Pattabhirama,' `Brovavamma,' `Sri Kamalambike' (Desyatodi) to name a few, and the great Kshetragna padams and javalis.
Later, the duo separated, and Muktamma started performing alone with vocal support from disciples. She sang brief raga alapana wherever required and interestingly, even in her solo performances, where she was the main singer, she still stuck to her practice of singing in tara sthayi certain song portions and it was the disciple who sang them in the normal register. Still she stole the show, attention and appreciation!
Muktamma was a great teacher and trained a number of disciples, teaching them wholeheartedly the great treasures of the Dhanammal legacy. At the same time, she was also keenly interested in learning new compositions, even from outside sources.
During her stay in Madurai for a few years, she learnt Tyagaraja kritis `Muchchata Brahmadulaku,' and `Lalite Sri Pravruthe' from Vidwan P.C.Sitarama Iyer, her neighbour, who belonged to the sishya parampara of Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati. She was an artist with great integrity, and was equally proud of other artists' achievements, indeed a very rare virtue!
Muktamma always missed some of her favourite musicians. She would actually break down, while singing the javali `Marubari' in Chenchurutti, remembering younger sister T. Abhiramasundari, and recall memories of Ramnad Krishnan while hearing `Sri Manini' of Tyagaraja.
A very affectionate person, Muktamma was very fond of children. This writer's guru Ramnad Krishnan used to be fascinated by the innumerable short classical songs that Muktamma sang while nursing her nieces, nephews and grand children. At his request, one day Muktamma sang almost all of them and one could not but marvel at their melodic beauty. After all, are they not also part of the Dhanammal legacy?
(Ritha Rajan is a musician and disciple of Mukta)
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