DK Pattammal
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Today is the greast maestro's birthday. (Born: March 2, 1919)
Our namaskarams to this doyen of music who has given us all so much joy through her renditions full of pure classicism.
Here's a writeup: http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~dkp/
a picture full of grace:
and an audio clip - a lovely Vachaspati RTP: http://file.uploadr.com/cef6
Our namaskarams to this doyen of music who has given us all so much joy through her renditions full of pure classicism.
Here's a writeup: http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~dkp/
a picture full of grace:
and an audio clip - a lovely Vachaspati RTP: http://file.uploadr.com/cef6
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 16:52
Happy Birthday Smt Pattammal.
(I have seen her birthday listed as 19 March 1919 in N. Rajagopalan's Garland book. http://www.saigan.com/heritage/music/garlandp.htm)
(I have seen her birthday listed as 19 March 1919 in N. Rajagopalan's Garland book. http://www.saigan.com/heritage/music/garlandp.htm)
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I had the privelege of meeting Smt. DKP a few days ago (on March 5th, to be exact) in her house in Kotturpuram.
As I entered her house, I was greeted by rows of framed photographs and award citations on the wall leading to the living room. Smt DKP sat in the living room, a picture of serenity. She chatted with us (my mom and I) for a while, with child-like enthusiasm. She told us that she still takes classes for students, during weekends! At the end of the visit, she blessed me for a good career in music. It was a short visit, but one that I will remember for ever.
Happy Birthday to one of the greatest carnatic musicians ever!
As I entered her house, I was greeted by rows of framed photographs and award citations on the wall leading to the living room. Smt DKP sat in the living room, a picture of serenity. She chatted with us (my mom and I) for a while, with child-like enthusiasm. She told us that she still takes classes for students, during weekends! At the end of the visit, she blessed me for a good career in music. It was a short visit, but one that I will remember for ever.
Happy Birthday to one of the greatest carnatic musicians ever!
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Excellent Article. In fact, DKP told me that the judges for the madras exam were Ambi Dikshitar, Prof Sambamurthy & possibly Justice TLV also. I beleive she sang "sri subramanyaya namasthe ( kambodhi) " of MD. Ambi Dikshitar told DKP after the exam, that DKP must have been born in Dikshitar's family and that's how DKP was taught by Ambi Dikshitar.
Last edited by vs_manjunath on 23 Mar 2007, 15:26, edited 1 time in total.
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I don't think so...her cm concerts are so deep rooted in classicism...her alapanais, RTPs and even her kriti renditions reflect the tradition that has been handed down to her by her patti...
-bhaktha
-bhaktha
Last edited by bhaktha on 22 Sep 2007, 22:01, edited 1 time in total.
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I agree she tends to be quite loud which is jarring at times. May be they can do something with the amplification of her mike. Full throated singing brings out the bhavam that is important for CM and she probably does not want to mess with her natural way of singing. It will be interesting to hear people's experience with any mikeless concert she had given. When she sings viruththam in such uninhibited full throated manner it does produce the much desired effect that is unique for such pieces. With less amplification it can come out quite well.
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Notwithstanding her association with films, there is no doubt that Nithyasree, like Sudha, is an artiste whose technical proficiency is overshadowed because of her mass appeal and the occasional pampering of the gallery...like Sudha, she is comfortable in laya and is at ease in a wide variety of ragas....I remember her swara prasthara for Ravichandrika at Vani Mahal in the late nineties - was quite amazing.
The major issue is that there is very little power in the lower octave which combined with her strength in the tara sthayi, has a loudish effect on concerts and tends to reduce the weight of renditions. If she could work on this aspect I am sure we wll have a more rounded artist who fully justifies her lineage...we must also consider that she has lost a few years thanks to the responsibilities of motherood. Now she can hopefully continue to take her musical journey to greater heights.
The major issue is that there is very little power in the lower octave which combined with her strength in the tara sthayi, has a loudish effect on concerts and tends to reduce the weight of renditions. If she could work on this aspect I am sure we wll have a more rounded artist who fully justifies her lineage...we must also consider that she has lost a few years thanks to the responsibilities of motherood. Now she can hopefully continue to take her musical journey to greater heights.
Last edited by vijay on 23 Sep 2007, 14:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Since the discussion is now hovering around Nithyasree, I'd like to pose a question I've been looking for an answer for, for a long time now... My friends in college don't listen to CM and many detest it. They know though about Nithyasree cuz she's sung in films. One day, a friend compelled me to listen to a song for which he didn't know who the singer was(supposedly) What I heard was a lewd track FULL of double entendre titled mArkaNDEyA nI varuvAyA from a Tamil movie, New... No prizes for guessing who the singer was. I was FLABBERGASTED!!! It's a song composed by A.R.Rahman. Could this be the only reason? Or is m'am SO hard up for money that she'll sing any sort of trash assuming of course that her CM singing won't be affected ? (sorry if I'm sounding harsh. It's truly out of visceral disgust, though I respect and admire Nithyasree A LOT and am crazy abt her CM renditions)
For a live demo, click on the link below:-
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/b5x ... As1NMvHdW/
WHAT is the reason for an artiste of her calibre, repute and lineage to sing such a song?!
Any opinions?
For a live demo, click on the link below:-
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/b5x ... As1NMvHdW/
WHAT is the reason for an artiste of her calibre, repute and lineage to sing such a song?!
Any opinions?
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Oh boy, I should add - About 6 - 7 years back, Nithyasree sang a stirring Neelothpalambikayam - Narireethigowla - Dikshitar. At that time, I was hopeful. But of late, the decline in her music is noticeable, possibly due to various reasons. In the concerts, I have attended, the song selection/composers could have been better.
With a youngster, there should be benefit of doubt with the hope that the youngster could become a better musician over the next 5 - 10 years. When you have a great lineage - DKP & DKJ and Palghat Mani Iyer - there are also high expectations.
With a youngster, there should be benefit of doubt with the hope that the youngster could become a better musician over the next 5 - 10 years. When you have a great lineage - DKP & DKJ and Palghat Mani Iyer - there are also high expectations.
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Jigyaasa, although I can understand your anguish, I think we should focus on the quality of an artistes CM performances. So long as they are competent, ought not to concern ourselves about what anyone does once he/she steps down from the concert platform. I had made this point about drinking as well. Our singers don't make any claims to divinity and we should not be judging them against our personal moral standards. If we did, we would shun many of the brightest stars in the carnatic firmament and the loss would be entirely ours!
Also, I understand that many of our Javalis and Padams are more than capable of making us fidget in our seats if we could only comprehend their meaning!
Also, I understand that many of our Javalis and Padams are more than capable of making us fidget in our seats if we could only comprehend their meaning!
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@Vijay, I agree... But it has definitely diminished the high regard that I held her in. And worse still, no matter how much I rack my brains I can't find a plausible reason for having sung that track...
@Arasi m'am, I think you're being TOO liberal in even going as far as hypothesising she'd sing that song in a kutcheri!!!
@Arasi m'am, I think you're being TOO liberal in even going as far as hypothesising she'd sing that song in a kutcheri!!!
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I got curious enough to give that song a listen. What a bad song it is, without considering the lyrics which I coul not really catch on to in that one time. I am more offended by ARR and Nithyasree for making humanity suffer through such completely bland and trite melody than the lyrics. It sounds like a song made up by ARR when he had run out of ideas, stitching together some fluff folkish material. Jigyasa, you have to let it go.. Let us move on
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While my Tamizh vocabulary is not enough to "appreciate" the song in question, I feel what concert musicians get involved outside concert platform is not a rasika's business. Artists may have their own reasons for for them to take such assignments.vasanthakokilam wrote:I got curious enough to give that song a listen. What a bad song it is, without considering the lyrics which I coul not really catch on to in that one time. I am more offended by ARR and Nithyasree for making humanity suffer through such completely bland and trite melody than the lyrics. It sounds like a song made up by ARR when he had run out of ideas, stitching together some fluff folkish material. Jigyasa, you have to let it go.. Let us move on
But the song credit shows a different name?
-Ramakriya
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Agreed Ramakriya. Especially, it can be extremely suffocating to them if rasikas dangle their great family lineage in front of them every time the artist does something that is not quite traditional. Having said all that, I can fault Nithyashree ( if it is indeed her in that song ) for her lack of musical discrimination in agreeing to sing such banal material.
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VK,
Allow me to say 'a few words' before moving on!
Jigyaasa,
My being liberal does not extend to putting up with vulgar lyrics AND jarring music which pretends to be folk music but fails miserably in the attempt. I merely wanted to state that what musicians do (away from the CM concert stage) is their own business. My values and taste in music have nothing to do with it.
Someone in the audience might even request a film song, I thought-- before listening to the audio!
Before you say 'no!', I would give you an example. Some parents and grandparents ask their children to 'perform' a film song for the benefit of their guests. Mind you, these are CM oriented elders.
This happened to me when I visited a family. I was shocked and wondered how they could be so oblivious to the words and the pelvic gyrations. The children aped the dancers very well, and I was stunned.
Later, I asked around and found out it wasn't that rare an occurence. I realize that in many households, three generations of a family sit together in front of the TV and watch the serials! No PG there, either!
As for the song, I did not see Niyashri's name there. I would think her song wasn't any better than the one I heard, from what you folks say.
I do hope to see Nityashri emerge as a true torch bearer of the family (families) in the near future, continuing in the footsteps of her treasured grandparents...
Allow me to say 'a few words' before moving on!
Jigyaasa,
My being liberal does not extend to putting up with vulgar lyrics AND jarring music which pretends to be folk music but fails miserably in the attempt. I merely wanted to state that what musicians do (away from the CM concert stage) is their own business. My values and taste in music have nothing to do with it.
Someone in the audience might even request a film song, I thought-- before listening to the audio!
Before you say 'no!', I would give you an example. Some parents and grandparents ask their children to 'perform' a film song for the benefit of their guests. Mind you, these are CM oriented elders.
This happened to me when I visited a family. I was shocked and wondered how they could be so oblivious to the words and the pelvic gyrations. The children aped the dancers very well, and I was stunned.
Later, I asked around and found out it wasn't that rare an occurence. I realize that in many households, three generations of a family sit together in front of the TV and watch the serials! No PG there, either!
As for the song, I did not see Niyashri's name there. I would think her song wasn't any better than the one I heard, from what you folks say.
I do hope to see Nityashri emerge as a true torch bearer of the family (families) in the near future, continuing in the footsteps of her treasured grandparents...
Last edited by arasi on 25 Sep 2007, 10:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Well said Arasi! It is really sad if even rasikas encourage their kids to perform such nonsense. If it were in my power I wouldn't allow children anywhere near a Bollywood/Kollywood movie except for very select ones...and my objection is not so much to the adult content as to the sheer crudity of this "art form"...
The development of an impressionable mind is naturally conditioned, to a very large extent, by the opinions/preferences of parents, family, teachers, peers and so on. There is not much one can do about what goes on outside home but surely it is the duty of parents to inculcate the right aesthetic values in their children. I can say this from my own experience - although I wasn't very receptive to my grandfather's attempts to get me hooked on to carnatic music, I guess it left behind some subconscious interest that was strong enough to grow into a fascination for the art when I grew up...
OTOH, if people sit around watching "gana music" with their kids, the output of such a parenting process can only be junk (or "kuppai" as my grandfather used to say)...
Sorry for the digression...coming back to Nithyashree, although I haven't heard any of her filmi numbers, I was under the imrpession that she did only classically oriented film songs (like Bombay Jayashree) so I was a little surprised about hearing this. Given the doubts expressed above, perhaps someone could check whether she did indeed render this song or it was a printing/typing error...
The development of an impressionable mind is naturally conditioned, to a very large extent, by the opinions/preferences of parents, family, teachers, peers and so on. There is not much one can do about what goes on outside home but surely it is the duty of parents to inculcate the right aesthetic values in their children. I can say this from my own experience - although I wasn't very receptive to my grandfather's attempts to get me hooked on to carnatic music, I guess it left behind some subconscious interest that was strong enough to grow into a fascination for the art when I grew up...
OTOH, if people sit around watching "gana music" with their kids, the output of such a parenting process can only be junk (or "kuppai" as my grandfather used to say)...
Sorry for the digression...coming back to Nithyashree, although I haven't heard any of her filmi numbers, I was under the imrpession that she did only classically oriented film songs (like Bombay Jayashree) so I was a little surprised about hearing this. Given the doubts expressed above, perhaps someone could check whether she did indeed render this song or it was a printing/typing error...
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"Vaseegara" from the film minnale is in natabairavi no doubt, but was Smt. Jayashree actually aware of the visuals for the song when she sang it? I doubt...IMHO, the two forms of music- cine music (of today) and cm- represent the two poles and can never meet...In fact, as far as cine music is concerned, we have to blame the lyricist and the choreographer more than the music director:Pvijay wrote:Sorry for the digression...coming back to Nithyashree, although I haven't heard any of her filmi numbers, I was under the imrpession that she did only classically oriented film songs (like Bombay Jayashree)
-bhaktha
Last edited by bhaktha on 25 Sep 2007, 14:55, edited 1 time in total.
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Perhaps we can move this 'kuppai' discussion out of this thread dedicated to the great DKP?
In my opinion, Nithyashree pales in comparison to the maestro.
Music doesn't seem to be inherited after all? A random sample of some of the geniuses only confirms this...e.g. BMK, MLV, Mandolin Srinivas, etc etc.
And yes, this song is rendered by her - only the male singer's name is shown against the song at musicindiaonline.
In my opinion, Nithyashree pales in comparison to the maestro.
Music doesn't seem to be inherited after all? A random sample of some of the geniuses only confirms this...e.g. BMK, MLV, Mandolin Srinivas, etc etc.
And yes, this song is rendered by her - only the male singer's name is shown against the song at musicindiaonline.
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Just in case u didn't know, bhaktha, the song being discussed has been banned by the Kerala Censor Board for its "provocative"(I prefer to be euphemistic) picturisation... In any case, that has nothing at all to do with the singers...bhaktha wrote:"Vaseegara" from the film minnale is in natabairavi no doubt, but was Smt. Jayashree actually aware of the visuals for the song when she sang it?
-bhaktha
Well, I guess its conundrum I'll never figure out - why she sang such trash. And the irony of it all is, just as I type out these words, I'm listening to an amazing kalapanaswara in simhavAhinI for nenarunchara by her... So as vk pointed out, I suppose I just have to move on...
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such a debate took place nany years back , may be 30 or 40, when the legend MLV sang' AIYA SAMI, AAOJI SAMI, NARIKOMBIRUKKU VAANGALIYA' COPIED from C,RAMACHANDRA 'S GORI GORI. LET US FORGET SUCH TRANSGRESSIONS. Let us remember SONGS LIKE' MANNAVAN VANDHANADI' WHERE THE RAAG KALYANI HAS BEEN ANALYSED THREADBARE, EVERY SANGATI ,A GEM BY LATE KV MAHADEAN, AT PRESENT JAYA TV ANO PODIGAI ARE PRESNTING PROGRAMMES LIKE TULLADA MANNMUM TULLUM. PERPETUATING GOOD OLD CAPTIVATING FILM SONGS . GOBILALITHA
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I am certainly NOT defending Nityashree's choices, but, with the situation in Indian film industry, it is possible that if ARR asks (given his stature), very few can refuse to sing for him. I think the days when the Mangeshkar/Bhonsle clan could boycott and break music directors are long gone, and many of these singers can't afford to refuse some of the big names. Now, why should that bother someone like Nithyashree is another matter altogether! I for one find most of the current tamizh film songs filled with double, and tripple entendre, but do not find the same with Hindi songs. I just heard the songs from sAnwariA - some of them are fantastic, and songs from movies like swadEs and lagAn are examples of good music and decent lyrics. I have to say that of all the songs for movies rendered by current CM artists, the only one that has captured my interest in terms of melody is Bombay Jaishree's kai vINaiyai Endum kalaivANiyE (set to asA bilAval according to the experts).....
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rs,
You forgot to mention the 'thaiya thakka' dance sequence (ARR) on the top of train, aping which four youths were electrocuted at Safdarjang Railway station - Thanks to Mani Ratnam - a great director!!
I have not been able to understand the tastes of 'rasikas'.
There is a story of a sannyasi. He was one-day resting, lying on the ground, with brick underneath his head; some girls passing by commented 'Look, some sannyasi is he; he needs a pillow'. The sannyasi heard it and threw the brick off. On their way back, they looked at him lying without a brick and commented 'Look, some sannyasi is he, he feels pinched by our words.'
Some rasikas would tolerate inebirated singing in the name of 'pure nada'; some would happily listen to vulgar songs in the name varnams, padam and javalis - again in the name of 'pure nada'. Some would object to musicians singing for films; some would appreciate musicians when directing film music;
What a musician does in order to earn her living is her business. If rasikas want only 'pure nada', then forget everything else about the person. If drinking off-stage is 'private', so is 'singing for films'. How does it matter to CM?- at least the CM of the popular variety - not mine.
You forgot to mention the 'thaiya thakka' dance sequence (ARR) on the top of train, aping which four youths were electrocuted at Safdarjang Railway station - Thanks to Mani Ratnam - a great director!!
I have not been able to understand the tastes of 'rasikas'.
There is a story of a sannyasi. He was one-day resting, lying on the ground, with brick underneath his head; some girls passing by commented 'Look, some sannyasi is he; he needs a pillow'. The sannyasi heard it and threw the brick off. On their way back, they looked at him lying without a brick and commented 'Look, some sannyasi is he, he feels pinched by our words.'
Some rasikas would tolerate inebirated singing in the name of 'pure nada'; some would happily listen to vulgar songs in the name varnams, padam and javalis - again in the name of 'pure nada'. Some would object to musicians singing for films; some would appreciate musicians when directing film music;
What a musician does in order to earn her living is her business. If rasikas want only 'pure nada', then forget everything else about the person. If drinking off-stage is 'private', so is 'singing for films'. How does it matter to CM?- at least the CM of the popular variety - not mine.
Last edited by vgvindan on 25 Sep 2007, 18:58, edited 1 time in total.
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I have utmost respect for Smt. Nityashree and smt. Jayashree and their cm... And as somebody pointed out, it is indeed none of my business to comment on their singing in films....it's purely a personal decision...
@jigyaasa,
Even in my previous post, I had mentioned that the singers are not to be held at fault and that only the lyricist and choreographer are to be blamed.
This thread dedicated to one of the greatest musicians ever has gone hay-wire...
I hope this is the last post as regards Smt. Niyashree and films.
More on Smt. DKP please....
-bhaktha
@jigyaasa,
Even in my previous post, I had mentioned that the singers are not to be held at fault and that only the lyricist and choreographer are to be blamed.
This thread dedicated to one of the greatest musicians ever has gone hay-wire...
I hope this is the last post as regards Smt. Niyashree and films.
More on Smt. DKP please....
-bhaktha
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One of DKP Amma's finest: elAvatArameTTukoNTivO. When she hits the upper sA in this rendition, for me, everything else melts away and I am lost in the truth, honesty and integrity of her music. The sun shines a little less brightly in a world without DKP Amma.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dreceh
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dreceh
Last edited by prashant on 16 Jul 2009, 14:38, edited 1 time in total.