When I was at Trivandrum for Giri's engagement in June, Paatti's voice was a few semitones below her usual, but she was ok to talk. Perhaps inevitably, talk turned to music, but song was just a couple of lines long - tentative, even uninvolved. Maybe if her health improved....
So, when Radha posted "Paatti's first selfie" and Paatti looked fresh and bright, I smiled, even grinned. I would be at Ayikudi on December 16 with Giri & Radha and Mama & Mami. So I would be meeting Paatti in a couple of days.
I didn't plan anything, but it was no surprise when music quickly turned up in conversation. This time, I wanted to see how well Paatti could sing a few lines. She was dismissive, scoffing at the idea when I suggested it, but it was energetic protest; that was a good sign. She kept saying her herpes had taken her singing away for good. Much of it was just memory but the thought of the disease burning up her throat was horrific enough for her to not even consider singing. But, like I said, she was vehement in her refusal, which to me indicated perhaps the desire to try but for the thought of how badly she might fail at something she would absolutely hate to.
I kept goading her and so did Vijaya Mami. We kept coming up with her favourite songs, and it paid off. Paatti sang. Each failed attempt of hers to reach a note, execute a gamakam or negotiate a phrase, was a self-inflicted knock on the head, but Paatti was also getting into the groove. Vijaya Mami and I gave her "vocal support", and soon she finished her first song, exclaiming, "Looks like I might get it right..." "You have already got it right!!" Mami and I chorused.
Paatti forgot lines and stanzas, but kept going enthusiastically. I recorded the three songs, and here they are with a few unimportant edits that have donenothing to disguise Paatti's singing in any way.
Kaatriniley Varum Geetam. The pic, of course, is of MS, not a young Paatti!
Sri Chakra Raja. The photo is from April 2014 at Coimbatore.
Paatti told me this was the first time she was singing after her herpes. But that didn't see her taking the easy way out. She insisted on repeating a Sangati when it didn't come out right the first time. And she didn't skip the difficult ones, either. The phrase at 1:55" in Bruhi Mukundeti assured me that there was much music left in her.
Bruhi Mukundeti. The photo is from April 2014 at Coimbatore.
The highlight of the half-hour session of singing was Paatti successfully hitting the Taara Panchamam in the line கதறி மனம் உருகி நான் அழைக்கவோ in Oothukkadu's Kaanada song, Alai Paayudhe Kanna. In the end Paatti said with hope that she was wary of letting in too easily, "ஆமாம் டேய்!! வரும் போல இருக்கு. என்னிக்கும் கொஞ்சம் பாடணும்." Yes, indeed, Paatti.
