Down Memory Lane...

A Tribute to DK Pattammal

Pattamal: A life dedicated to Carnatic music
When she was barely 10, her father used to wake her up at 4 every morning by dabbing cold water on her eyes. For a month, she found it difficult. Then as she got used to the idea, it was she who used to wake her father up. This marked the start of a rigorous practice routine that went on for decades.
“I am now 82,” says DK Pattammal, “and if I can still sing well, it is because of the discipline and hard work.” There is a gentleness and softness to this lady with the beautiful smile. And the deep conviction which has carried her through a richly active career spanning six decades.
Some of the awards she has received are the Sangeet Natak Akedemi Award, the Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan as well as the Kalidas Samman.
This week music lovers watched as this highly respected vocalist received the Swaralaya Puraskaram from Swaralaya, a Delhi-based arts organization.
Her humility is evident when she says, “They’ve come all the way from Delhi to give me this award. They could have dropped the idea when they knew I couldn’t travel there.” She points to her legs and says with a smile, “Arthritis.”
But then, as Justice Eradi, Swaralaya’s president said at the ceremony, “What we are giving her (a cash award of Rs one lakh, a sculpture and a citation) is not a big amount compared to the great contribution that she has made.” Recipients of this ward in previous years include Ustad Bismillah Khan, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, MS Subbulakshmi and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
The Kalakshetra auditorium was filled with Pattamal’s rasikas, students and a host of senior artists. It was a crisp and dignified affair. As a touching gesture of gratitude to her gurus, the organizers and rasikas, she rendered a song with her granddaughter, Nityashree Mahadevan. A befitting tribute was paid to this great doyen of Carnatic music by violinist VV Subrahmanyam who presented a soul-stirring recital with a virtuosity that took us back into another era.
To the younger generation of vocalists Pattammal has this to say: Junior vidwans of today are very knowledgeable, but they must do much more sadhana so that they can reach greater heights.” Known for her orthodoxy and strict adherence to purity and tradition she says, “My feeling is that nothing should get mixed with it. I have preserved my music like pure ghee.” She is of the opinion that it is the audience that should seek the artist and not vice versa and that with devotion and hard work, it cannot but happen.
Speaking of conformity to tradition, she is incidentally one of the first Carnatic musicians to provide background music to films. I ask her how she managed to straddle the paths. “My first condition was that I would only sing devotional numbers or songs on nature – no duets and no love songs! Only if this condition was met would I take up the assignment,” Undoubtedly this is one woman who knew how to set her boundaries and have the people come to her.
Maintaining unflinching dedication to the art in a materialistic world can prove to be stressful. She has this to say, “When Saraswati is invoked, Lakshmi herself will come. One shouldn’t sing thinking of money. It is the art that is important. Money should come to us; we should not go to it.”
She quotes a line from a Tyagaraja kriti: Sita vara sangeetha gnyaanam, Dhata vraalaya vale, which tells us that it is Brahma who has to write it for us to be bestowed with the gift of song. It is unique musicians such as Pattammal who then hold that gift, take it higher and higher, thus fulfilling their greatest potential and uplifting so many others in the process.


NIRMALA SESHADRI
(Economic Times, Chennai
19th August 2001)