Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’”song, and the “nowness” (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.
With August 15th just a couple of days away, desh bhakti of different types is in the air. Excited plans for an extended weekend vacation thanks to Independence Day and Id holiday in the bus; plastic and paper tricolour flags at traffic signals, shop windows dressed up in white, green and saffron; a sudden rise in the popularity of “desh bhakti geet” on TV and the radio… yes, its that time of the year. Even my customised YouTube page had Independence Day recommendations for me. One of them was D.K. Pattammal (1919-2009) singing the Jana Gana Mana:
D.K. Pattammal (DKP) would have been 28 when India attained Independence on in 1947. I wonder what it must have meant to her as a young, trailblazing musician. For someone who was well-known for her renditions of Mahakavi Bharatiyar’s nationalist songs, did she see the songs coming to life with India’s freedom
Maybe she did, for the joy and pride in singing the national anthem is so evident in the video that it would take a cynic or a real pessimist to not be moved by her expressions. For a change, I love the video more that the actual rendition of the song itself and it’s all because of DKP.
Happy Independence Day 🙂
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Played in the office with the speakers on mute. You are right, this rendering must be seen and not heard. Wonder how many of the chest thumping, flag waving millions can sing from the heart.
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Thanks, Srinayan. We can all sing the national anthem by heart, but not from the heart. 🙂
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beautiful…emotions are pouring, and the video makes one feel intense ! A legendary Carnatic singer, who mesmerized people with her depth of voice…lovely:)
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Thank you, Panchali. I love Pattammal’s music and whenever I attended her concerts as a child, I remember coming away mesmerised as I loved (and still do) listening to women with a full, deep voice.
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Such a nice song sung by a nice person.
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Glad you liked it, Shalu. 🙂
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Great link, to remember her and enjoy that voice. thanks.
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You’re welcome, Pattu. Thanks to YouTube we can enjoy such gems on demand.
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Lovely to get to hear this
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Glad you liked it, Suresh.
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Beautiful and moving. Thanks for uploading this; not being familiar with carnatic music, I would not be aware of this otherwise. On another note, here is the full anthem, sung by Swagatlakshmi Dasgupta. This was the first time I heard the entire song, written and the music composed by Gurudev Tagore. Enjoy!
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Thank you so much,Nima for sharing this full link. I haven’t heard the full version till now. It’s beautiful, isn’t it 🙂
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Very moving, each time I hear the song, no matter the version!
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Jan gan man adhinayak jaya hai
bharat bhagaya vidhata..
beautifulllllllllll… made me stand up for sure
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That’s what I felt like too, Bikram. 🙂
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The rendition does something to you, to your heart strings!
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That it does, Rachna. The sight of a nearly 90 year old singing with joy and pride and from her heart is quite something indeed.
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It’s nice to hear something different… was getting a bit too used to the Rehman-esq renditions over the years. Lovely!!
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Never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it… yes !
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Thanks for a lovely Independence Day gift.
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Welcome here, Shovonc. Delighted that you enjoyed this Independence Day gift. 🙂
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Lovely. Superb expressions. She, like a true artist, sings from her heart. It looks even more beautiful due to clip being in black and white.
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There is something about black and white. It’s magical, it’s real and somehow very soulful and very apt for the person and emotions being portrayed.
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As some one has already said it was coming from the heart of DKP. Loved it.
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I loved it too, PNS. And that is why I could not resist sharing it here with all of you.
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Earthy, full-bodied, fillled with emotions — D.K.P.’s voice is a unique combination of all these. And when she sings the national anthem in that voice, you do feel like standing up and trying to wipe away those goose pimples.
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And I love earthy, full bodied voices. And there is something magical and realistic about DKP’s rendition that also brings a lump to my throat.
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Thanks Sudhajee I would have liked to download and listen to the Song but do not seem to have the necessary means to do so in my computer. The blog however was very interesting to read, as all yours usually are. Ashraf
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Delighted to see you here, Ashraf. Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting and for your lovely comments as well 🙂
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