Karnatakam (1) D.K.Jayaraman

Starting with this post I plan to write a few words about the people who added lustre to the ocean of Karnatic Music.It would be great if Miss.S could start a simultaneous series in Hindustani Music!!

D.K.Jayaraman(DKJ to his fans and admirers and to readers of this blog from now on :) )
He is by far my favourite vocalist.This combined with the fact that Iam currently listening to lots of his music( Courtesy Rohit a dear friend and a budding vocalist who is in the Shishya Parampara of DKJ's Guru and sister DK Pattamal).
A short biography:
D. K. Jayaraman (1928-1991) D. K. Jayaraman hailed from Kanchipuram. From his teen years to his forties he gave concerts with his sister and guru, Smt. D.K. Pattamal. After his family moved to Madras in the 1940's, young Jayaraman furthered his musical skills by learning from several well known masters like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar *, Madurai Mani Iyer, Muthiah Bhagavatar, Rajaratnam Pillai(Great Nagaswaram Vidwan), Papanasam Sivan, Koteeswara Iyer and others.(Most of these names deserve a post and I hope to oblige :) )
D.K.Jayaraman was able to establish his individuality as a musician when he started giving solo concerts. He demonstrated singular creativity when rendering songs. By constant practice and singing, he acquired a pliable voice which he used to its fullest range. Rather shy by nature, he was a down-to-earth, simple man, not given to fanfare. In fact, he used to feel bashful if a large number of his admirers were around him. He was most comfortable in small gathering. Always accomodative, he was thoughtful of his accompanying artistes. He planned his concert well and it is said, he would rehearse his pallavi very thoroughly.
DKJ had a large stock of Muthuswami Dikshitar's, Shyama Sastri's plus Tyagaraja's kritis. Like Kanchipuram Naina Pillai, DKJ used to sing uncommon kritis in rare ragas. A few examples come to mind:
Parvati ninnu - Kalgada (Syama Sastri) Natimata marachitivo- Devakriya (Tyagaraja), Shanka-chakra-gadha panim -Purnachandrika (Muthuswami Dikshitar) Samayamide- Budhamanohari (Muthiah Bhagavatar) (This aspect of his music is an integral part of all his Sishyas espescially the genial Vijaya Siva among others)
Accolades and honours came to him one after another and the most coveted was the title of Sangita Kalanidhi from the Madras Music Academy. Unfortunately, he did not live long to cherish the recognition he got from the Music Academy. He died within a month after the title was conferred on him. His concert repertoire included many Tamil songs. He was instrumental in popularizing compositions of many modern composers like Papanasam Sivan, Periasami Tooran, Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, Surajananda, Neela Ramamurthy, Srivatsa and others. He had a large number of rasikas and trained several disciples. His daughter and his disciple, Sukanya gave vocal support to him in many of his concerts. Other prominant disciples include Vijay Siva, Balaji Shankar and violinist, R. K. Shriramkumar. His son, J. Vaidyanathan is a leading mrudangist. Rasikas often felt happy listening to DKJ's concert as he could feel the pulse of the audience and modify his presentation. He was willing to render songs requested by rasikas.
A short Anecdote
"The lad of eleven with captivating voice and expression was chosen to play the role of Prahalada. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyangar(*) was Vishnu. N.S.Ramachandran was the producer. Renowned Palghat Mani, Mysore Chowdiah, Parupalli Ramakrishna Pantulu were among the cast. The musically talented lad was not only a brilliant success but had the presence of mind and the alertness to take over singing the piece 'Sri Maha Ganapathi' (Sourashtra *) when by inadvertance Parupalli had begun the song at the pitch of the lad. It should be noted that it was a live broadcast on the AIR long back. There was all-round praise to the lad, who was none other than D.K.Jayaraman, one of the top artistes."
* Sourashtra is a Karnataka Raagam
*Ariyakudi was one of the doyens of Karnataka Music.Among his achievements include a clear plan of presentation of a concert a.k.a Kutcheri Paddathi,(Will correct this if Iam wrong).There will definitely be a post on him.
Coming to anecdotes,I have asked Rohit for some.As and when I get them I will post an addendum to this post.