D.Okay. Pattammal, Known For Her Rendition Of Bharati’s Patriotic Songs, Was Invited By AIR To Sing On August 15, 1947
When you consider D.Okay. Pattammal, there are lots of musical associations that instantly come to thoughts, chief amongst them her songs of freedom.
She was actually not the primary girl in Carnatic music to sing them. That credit score goes to M.L. Vasanthakumari’s mom, Madras Lalithangi, who in 1925 recorded an elegy on C.R. Das. Thereafter, Okay.B. Sundarambal recorded a number of songs of freedom. The harikatha exponents, C. Saraswati Bai and Padmasini Bai, and the writer, creator and singer, Vai Mu Kothainayaki Ammal, made certain to include patriotic songs once they carried out, and Vai Mu Ko recorded discs of those as effectively. One side that was widespread amongst them was their admiration for the patriot, S. Satyamurti, the person who first considered bringing stage and different performing artistes into the liberty motion to attract crowds. This later turned an integral function of the political technique of Dravidian events, with a long-term influence on Tamil Nadu politics.
It was Vai Mu Ko who made many journeys to Kanchipuram to persuade Damal Krishnaswami Dikshitar that his daughter Pattammal had it in her to change into a live performance artiste. She started performing within the metropolis in 1932, and by 1935 had change into an artiste of notice. That 12 months, when the golden jubilee of the Congress was celebrated, Satyamurti was on the forefront of organising the occasion that featured a number of performances, together with Pattammal’s live performance. It seems that her affiliation with patriotic songs started right here.
Pattammal’s curiosity, nevertheless, had been kindled earlier. An in depth household pal and freedom fighter, Dr. P.S. Srinivasan, chairman of the Kanchipuram municipality, had given her a e-book of Subramania Bharati’s songs when she was simply ten. That was in 1929, a 12 months after the federal government in Burma had proscribed the singing of the poet’s songs, a regulation that utilized to Madras as effectively. This noticed an enormous surge in Bharati’s recognition and Pattammal was clearly influenced by all that was occurring.
Pattammal’s first public efficiency of a Bharati tune occurred within the 12 months that Mahatma Gandhi visited Kanchipuram. For the prayer meet, she set Bharati’s ‘Veera sudanthiram vendi nindrar’ to tune and sang it. The poet’s songs turned an integral a part of her repertoire thereafter, and it’s no marvel that Satyamurti included her within the Congress golden jubilee. Thereafter, gramophone discs of her patriotic songs started to be launched. After a live performance in Tirunelveli, Pattammal got here to know that Bharati’s spouse, Chellammal, had attended it and been moved to tears. In June 1945, Pattammal was the pure option to sing on the Bharati memorial in Ettayapuram, simply previous to its inauguration.
It was, nevertheless, cinema that most likely cemented the hyperlink between Pattammal and patriotic songs. Okay. Subrahmanyam’s Thyaga Bhoomi was made in 1939, primarily based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s novel and themed round freedom and untouchability.
Papanasam Sivan, who performed a serious function within the movie, composed the songs they usually had been sung by Pattammal. Some of the scenes can be found for viewing on YouTube and even now, regardless of the scratchy audio and jumpy video, the voice singing ‘Desa sevai seiya vareer’ leaves us with a lump within the throat. In 1948, got here AVM’s Nam Iruvar, by which Bharati’s songs had been an essential function. Picturised on Kumari Kamala and rendered by Pattammal, they had been nice hits. Forgotten between these high-profile releases is A.Okay. Chettiar’s movie on Gandhi, Adu Ratte, made in 1940, with Pattammal as playback. Writing concerning the making of the movie, Chettiar says he was wanting cash when he approached Pattammal’s father in 1938 to ask her to sing. On coming to know that the movie was on Gandhi, Dikshitar readily agreed. When the tune was performed within the studio throughout manufacturing, Chettiar writes that every one the staff stopped working and crowded round to hear.
But it’s ‘Shanti nilava vendum’ that we most affiliate with Pattammal. Written by Sethu Madhava Rao, that is the tune she all the time bought requests for. When I interviewed her in 2003, she stated it was her responsibility to sing songs extolling freedom. “After all, did we not struggle to achieve it?” she requested, including, “On August 15, 1947, I was invited by AIR to sing Bharati’s songs. I sang and I refused remuneration. The matter went up to the minister, but I held firm. Imagine accepting money for celebrating our nation’s independence!”
The Chennai-based historian writes on music and tradition.
