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Melodies and memories

PHOTOS: The Hindu Archives and V. SRIRAM

Then and now: D.K. Pattammal. (Below) With her brother D. K. Nagarajan in concert.

D. K. Pattammal will complete 90 years of a music-filled life on March 28. And it will be a day when the grand old lady will reminisce. True to her nature, she will be full of gratitude to the many who played a vital role in shaping up her music career. And here are some of them.

When Pattammal was an infant, her parents had taken her to Tiruvannamalai for a darshan of Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi. The seer had poured a few drops of honey into the baby’s throat, perhaps indicating what lay ahead in her life.

Building a repertoire for young Patta was a tough task in the backwoods of Kanchipuram, but her brothers did it. They and she would listen to concerts and then come back and pool their notes. A final version would emerge and would be considered acceptable only if elder brother D.K. Ranganathan approved of what had been sung. In an era of great secretiveness when it came to sharing music, this was perhaps the only way she could enlarge her repertoire. As is well known, younger brother Jayaraman was her vocal accompanist for several years.

Much later in life, Pattammal was to wonder how she had the guts to sing ‘Sri Subrahmanyaya Namaste’ before Ambi Dikshitar, descendant of Baluswami Dikshitar, brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar. It was at a government technical examination in 1930 and the other judges were Tiger Varadachariar and P. Sambamoorthy. She had selected the Dikshitar masterpiece for rendition. The dark and taciturn man in the corner had simply smiled as she began. But as it progressed, the connection was made and at the end of it, he not only offered to teach her but also convinced her father to extend his leave from duty and stay on in Madras for a few weeks for the purpose. When they got to know that he was from the Dikshitar lineage, how could they refuse? ‘Kanchadalayadakshi’ and ‘Balagopala’ were but two gems she acquired from Ambi Dikshitar. But the significance was in the direct link to Muthuswami Dikshitar. Ambi Dikshitar introduced her to T.L. Venkatarama Iyer, then a lawyer of Madras who would in time blossom into an authority on Dikshitar kritis besides becoming a legal luminary and also president of the Music Academy. He was to remain a life-long resource, mentor and guru.

Vai.Mu. Kothainayaki Ammal was the pioneering woman novelist who spent a number of hours convincing Pattammal’s father that women outside the Devadasi community could also take to a career in music. The first concert happened in 1933 at the Egmore Ladies Club, where coincidentally 25 years earlier, another woman from a non-Devadasi background, C. Saraswathi Bai, had defied convention and performed Harikatha.

Ammu Kutti Ammal, headmistress of her school in Kanchipuram, also helped Pattammal’s family break with orthodoxy. Once convinced, there was no holding back Pattammal’s father who became an ardent champion of the cause. He would strum the tambura during her performances indicating his approval.

Papanasam Sivan, Tamil Tyagiah, was yet another source of strength, inspiration and much music. To him, she was a daughter and she acquired an enormous repertoire of his songs, often with him composing a piece in the morning and she learning it in the afternoon and recording it for a gramophone company the very same evening!

From the age of ten when a collection of his poems was gifted to her, the works of Subramania Bharati had been a life-long passion. From there to other patriotic songs was but the next step. Her rendering of these songs brought her playback opportunities in films and made her a household name.

Pattammal was given the honour of singing when the foundation for the Bharati Memorial was laid at Ettayapuram. When on the eve of Independence, All India Radio invited her to sing patriotic songs, she refused remuneration. The matter shook the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and even the Minister in charge requested her to change her mind. Finally, it was the establishment that gave in, as did convention, orthodoxy and outmoded beliefs about a woman’s place in society when it concerned Pattammal.

It has been a life of struggles against odds with success crowning it. No wonder Ariyakkudi referred to her as Paadu Patta Ammal (the lady who had worked hard). Today, it is often erroneously said that Pattammal is the first lady artist and that she was the first woman to sing pallavi. In reality, she needs neither to glorify her. She showed that women from all backgrounds could succeed in the fine arts provided they had grit and determination. Therein is her real achievement.

(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com)

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