Celebrating Pattammal’s music

The Kalakshetra Foundation held a centenary year celebration for renowned Carnatic singer DK Pattammal at their premises in Besant Nagar on Saturday.
N Vijay Siva (vocal) performed at Kalakshetra Foundation  Nakshatra Krishnamoorthy
N Vijay Siva (vocal) performed at Kalakshetra Foundation  Nakshatra Krishnamoorthy

CHENNAI : The Kalakshetra Foundation held a centenary year celebration for renowned Carnatic singer DK Pattammal at their premises in Besant Nagar on Saturday. The Rukmini Arangam was filled with the late singer’s fans enjoying the music and the discussion while keeping a careful thalam with the performers.

The ensemble consisted of DK Pattammal’s student, N Vijay Siva on vocals, her nephew J Vaidyanathan on the tabla, BU Ganesh Prasad on the violin, and Chandrasekara Sharma on the ghatam. The event was interspersed with the singer’s well-known and favourite songs and arrangements with commentary by music critic and writer Gowri Ramnarayanan.

Tracing her childhood and her introduction into Carnatic music, Ramnarayanan spoke of her close relation with the Indian freedom movement, her relationship ship with her gurus, and her status as a strong feminist figure in Carnatic music.

“In every language she sang in, the pronunciation had to be accurate and the stress had to fall on the right words. A small, single mistake can create a huge problem, and alter the meaning of the entire sentence. This flawless diction failed her however, when she had to name her favourite cricketer. Her sons were amused whenever she saw this cricketer on screen. ‘Look at how well Madagascar is playing!’, she would say,” said Ramnarayanan, refering to Pakistani batsman Mudassar Nazar. Pattammal used to pray for India’s victory while simultaneously hoping for a good performance from Nazar.

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