Tributes

I had the privilege of learning and rendering the compositions of Smt. D. Pattmmal a few years ago. To be very honest I am usually very skeptical when books of new composers are given to me and initially I did look at her compositions with the same skepticism. But everything changed once I saw the Begada keertana Thunga nadhikaraiyil. This is a beautiful composition. The relationship between Datu and Matu and its close reflection of each other is where the core of any composition lies. Smt. D. Pattammal was one of those composers who was able to bring to life this relationship. Its also significant to say that when we refer to so many people as composer when they have only written the lyrics but got their poetry tuned by numerous musicians, here we truly have a composer who gave musical form to her compositions. She definitely stand apart. When many people complain that we do not have many women composers in Karnatik music, here is one who needs to be celebrated.