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Dk PattammalDamal Krishnaswamy Pattammal is one of the most popular and respected Carnatic musicians. She is a vocalist. She and her two contemporaries M.S. Subbulakshmi and M.L. Vasanthakumari, are often referred to as the "Female Trinity of Carnatic Music". Pattammal was born on March 2, 1919 at Kancheepuram to Damal Krishnaswamy Dikshitar and Rajammal. She gave her first public performance at the Mahila Samaj in Egmore at the age of 14. She quickly rose to stardom, and her musical career has spanned more than 65 years. Pattammal's sweet disposition and humble nature belies the fact that she started a few revolutionary trends in Carnatic music. She is the first Brahmin woman to have performed this music publicly, both on stage and on air. (Brahmins are considered to belong to the (so-called) highest caste in India, and in the 1930s when they were hyper-conservative, it was taboo for a Brahmin woman to perform on stage.) Pattammal is also the first woman to have performed Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi on stage. Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi (or Pallavi) is the most difficult concert item in Carnatic music. Before Pattammal, it was considered a male stronghold. Not only did Pattammal boldly venture into Pallavi-singing, but she performed some very complex Pallavi-s in intricate Talas (rhythmic cycles) impressively enough to earn the respect of her male peers. For this reason, she is dubbed "Pallavi Pattammal". It is heartening that today, many women Carnatic musicians perform Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi as the main item in their concerts. She popularized many compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar and Papanasam Sivan. In particular, she is considered an authority on the compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar. She has learnt authentic versions of Dikshitar's compositions from Ambi Dikshitar (Dikishitar's grand-nephew) and Justice T. L. Venkatrama Iyer. Pattammal has performed in numerous venues throughout India, the United States, and other countries. Although she received many offers to sing for films, she only accepted those which involved the singing of devotional or patriotic songs. She has popularized several nationalistic compositions of Subrahmanya Bharati, and other composers. Pattammal has received many awards throughout her career. The most notable are the Sangeetha Kalanidhi (considered the highest accolade in Carnatic music) in 1970, the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India in 1971, and the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor, in 1998. Pattammal is endowed with a full-thoated voice in the low alto/high tenor range. Her outstanding musical qualities include an overwhelming technical expertise, an uncompromising adherence to pitch and rhythm, and clear enunciation of lyrics. Her performances of shlokas and viruttams (poetry or verse sung improvisationally without rhythmic accompaniment) are laden with emotion. She is also considered a very disciplined musician. As a child she woke up before dawn and practised for hours. Throughout her performing career, she meticulously planned her concert items weeks ahead of time, and practised rigorously. Pattammal's style of singing attracted many students. Foremost among them was her younger brother D.K. Jayaraman, who sang with her in several concerts, and who himself received the Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1990. A few of her other popular students are Charumathi Ramachandran, Geetha Rajashekar, Nithyasree Mahadevan (who is also Pattammal's grand-daughter). She has taught students from several countries. डी के पट्टम्माल
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