While D.K. Pattamal had many gurus, her brother D.K. Jayaraman (DKJ) had no doubts at all that DKP was his only guru. But DKP would tell DKJ’s son mridangam exponent J. Vaidyanathan, ‘I never taught Jayaraman anything. He has karpoora buddhi . He just picked up music on his own.’
When did DKP and DKJ sing together? “When my father was seven years old. It was a wedding concert. At the reception, nagaswara vidwan T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai was honoured with an expensive silk shawl. He gave it to my father, commended him on his singing and gave him the name ‘Isai thambi,’” says Vaidyanathan.
Deep understanding
DKJ evolved his own style of singing. What was DKP’s reaction to this? “She felt that the style suited my father’s voice.” Although each followed a different style, they never seemed out of sync, when they sang together. How was that possible? “They would spend four to five hours, planning the concert! And father would not sing any additional sangatis that DKP did not sing. In the manodharma portions, each would follow his or her style.” When DKP went to the U.S. in 1977 and later to France for the Festival of India, DKJ accompanied her.
DKJ would say of his sister that she was Goddess Saraswathi incarnate. Students being nervous before an exam is understandable. But can Saraswati herself be afraid? And yet this was exactly what happened when Brinda organised a DKP-DKJ concert at the Music Academy, in memory of Veena Dhanammal. The day before the concert, Pattammal said to Vaidyanathan, who was to play the mridangam, “I am scared. Brinda told me that she has invited Semmangudi, MS and MLV. Brinda’s presence alone is enough to frighten me. She is a lion among musicians.”
Vaidyanathan recalls that the concert, with ‘Ne Morabettite’ as the main piece, went off very well. Pattammal went up to Brinda and said, “Please forgive me if there were any flaws in the concert.” And Brinda said, “Cutcheri Ohonnu irundudu .” And DKP told Vaidyanathan, “When Brinda said that, I felt like a student who had been afraid she would fail her public examination but ended up with a distinction.”
DKP internalised not only the music, but also the meaning of the lyric, which was what contributed to her bhavam in singing. In Neelakanta Sivan’s ‘Endraikku Siva kripai’, there is a line — ‘Undaana Podu’ that speaks of how people flatter you, when you are wealthy, but when the wealth is lost, they hardly exchange a word with you. Vaidyanathan recalls an Academy concert for which he accompanied DKP. When DKP got to the line ‘Undaana podu,’ she began to cry silently, and couldn’t proceed. DKJ, MLV, Brinda, MS were all seated in the first row. And tears began to flow from their eyes too, and soon there were hardly any eyes in the auditorium that were not moist. It took DKP a few minutes to compose herself and resume.
Vaidyanathan recalls what MS would say of DKP, that she was like the Pacific Ocean — her knowledge was extensive and deep.
In a recent seminar at the Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Vaidhyanathan’s wife Poorna, who is doing her Ph.D. on Pattammal’s music, compared DKP’s rendering of some songs and that of others, “Tyagaraja swami’s ‘Sani Todi Deve’ (Harikhambodi) has a different eḍuppu by DKP from Alathur Brothers. Also, Alathur Brothers rendered it in single kalai, but DKP in two. In Tyagaraja’s ‘Sri Raghuvara Aprameya’ (Khambodi), DKP would sing the charanam similar to a swarajati setting — swara followed by sahitya for each charanam, which are again rendered in second speed as well. Others generally sing the kriti without swara rendition and second speed. Poorna pointed to the consistency in the way DKP rendered the kritis — the same tempo, and the same order of the sangatis. “Music came so naturally to DKP, that she would not have sat down to ponder on the technical aspects,” she says.
