Being part of a political party today may have an added advantage. But in the case of late nagaswaram player Kuzhikarai Pitchaiyappa, a contemporary of T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai, politics almost cost his career, before the Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt came to his rescue. He was closely associated with the DMK since its inception and would perform at its annual conferences.
“Since the DMK was viewed as a party wedded to atheism, temples across the state refused to engage him. Opportunities to perform at marriages also came down and at one point, he was left with little or no concerts,” recalled clarinet maestro A.K.C. Natarajan, who followed the style of Pitchaiyappa and learnt a lot of keerthanas from him.
Kuzhikarai is a small town near Tiruvarur. Muthuswamy Dikshitar had composed keerthanas including Annapoornae Vishalakshi and Eki Annapoornae in praise of Godesses Visalakshi in its temple.
Pitchaiyappa, a relative of DMK president M. Karunanidhi, once had the opportunity to perform a concert in Delhi, accompanied by Tirucherai G. Muthukumarasamy Pillai on the thavil, in front of an audience including former Prime Minister Jawaharalal Nehru. Ever since, Pillai’s kin has been preserving photographs of Nehru posing and conversing with Pitchaiyappa and other artistes.
Incidentally, Pitchaiyappa is the favourite nagaswaram player of music director Illayaraja. “It was late Chief Minister MGR who had asked Ilayaraja to listen to his nagaswaram and whenever there was a conversation about nagaswaram, Ilayaraja would recall that incident,” said writer and film director Suka.
Pitchaiyappa had a huge repertoire of Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil songs. “He learnt a lot of Tamil keerthanas directly from M.M. Dhandapani Desikar. He first played in nagaswaram, songs including Thamarai pootha thadakamadi , Vennilavum and Thunmbam nerkaiyil ,” said Mr. Natarajan, who was instrumental in the Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt appointing Pitchaiyappa as the musician of the mutt and temples managed by it.
“I convinced the head of the mutt on the appointment because I was the musician of the mutt after Kakkayi Natarajasundaram and before him, Rajarathinam Pillai. I went directly to his residence and he was happy and surprised. We immediately went to Thiruvavaduthurai along with thavil player Natchiyarkoil Raghava Pillai and he gave a concert,” said Mr Natarajan.
The posting provided a new lease of life to his career. “The mutt would pay Rs.100 per month and 200 kalam paddy. Moreover, we could earn between Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 30,000 as remuneration from temples attached to the mutt,” he said.
