S G Kittappa: The Original Superstar Of Tamil Stage Music

Consider these two popular fun songs from Ilaiyaraaja. His early enjoyably gibberish Aatu Kutti Muttai Ittu from the iconic 1976 film 16 Vayathinile. And then there is the 1985 flick Aan Paavam and its song Kadhal Kasakuthaiya, a lament in the ragam Shanmukhapriya of a love-lorn youth.

Both the songs have a line that references S G Kittappa and P U Chinnappa — Kittapaavin paata kettan, Chinnappava nerla paathen in the first in the words of Kannadasan, and the second goes Kittappaa andha kaalathula Kaayaadha kaanagatha P U Chinnappaa vandha kaalathula Kaadhal kani rasamae in the verses of Vaali.  

Chinnappa is probably the the first most influential singing star of Tamil movies from the 1930s, whose major films include Uthama Puthiran (old), Aryamala, Kannagi, Manonmani, Kubera Kuchela and Jagathalapratapan. 

But what of Kittappa? He had died in the 1930s, much before cinema took roots in these parts. But ask any oldie who knew music of the past, and you would doubtless hear paeans of praise for Kittappa, who can be called the first ever singing superstar of Tamil stage.

The man, who was born in 1906 and passed away in 1933 (his 90th death anniversary fell on 2 December), blazed a unique and bright trail in those 27 short years, both with his resonant voice and a decidedly colourful and extravagant life.

It can be said without the fear of being contradicted that all the singing stars of early Tamil cinema — the aforesaid Chinnappa, Dandapani Desikar, M K Thiagaraja Bhagavathar, T R Mahalingam — all set out wanting to emulate what Kittappa pulled off on Tamil stage scene.

A Musical Prodigy

Born into an indigent Brahmin family from Sengottai, Kittappa had a brood of brothers and sisters in double digits. His original name was Ramakrishnan, and his pet name in the family Kittan, which is what eventually lent itself to Kittappa, a respected name that the world of musical stage drama gave him.  (It is as a tribute to his hero Kittappa that P U Chinnasamy rechristened himself to P U Chinnappa).

Kittappa never had proper schooling and even when he was around four, he accompanied two of his older siblings who were apprenticing under the doyen of Tamil drama Sankaradas Swamigal.

As the two brothers sat with the drama titan dispensing musical knowledge to them, the young Kittappa would organically catch all the nuances and knowledge that was being imparted to his brothers.

But the brilliance of Kittappa was such that he assimilated all the lessons intrinsically and began to sing on his own. And by the age of five, he was wowing audiences with his precocious singing talent.

When he was just six, he was already singing welcome songs in Sankaradas Swamigal dramas much to the resounding applause of listeners across the state. In a few years time following that, Kittappa was put in a ship and sent to Singapore, and the Tamil audience there too were instantly captured by his melodic brilliance.

By the time, Kittappa's age hit the double digits, he was already a singing star, and his fame spread all across places where Tamils lived. For a person, who never learnt classical music in the formal way, Kittappa's grip on the fundamentals was remarkable.

His strength was his ability to sing felicitously even in the higher octaves, and even for one so young, he showed great fidelity to the words of the songs. The meaning of the lines stood out burnished in his resonant voice. This remained his strength right through his spectacular but unfortunately short-lived career. 

Among the songs that he popularised in his early career were Kodaiyil Ilaipaari, Gopiyar Konjum Ramana, Evarani, Kami and the Kayatha Kanagathe (a reference to this song that Vaali astutely shoved in his Aan Paavam song. Kayatha Kanagathe number was later further popularised by T R Mahalingam who sought to imbibe Kittappa’s verve and vigour in his singing on screen.

There is an interesting anecdote around this song Evarani, originally composed by Saint Thyagaraja. Listening to Kittappa's version, one Carnatic musical stalwart said words to the effect that it was good Kittappa did not get into the Carnatic music concert scene and focused on Tamil musical dramas. If Kittappa had chosen Carnatic music, we would have no place.

This is what that Carnatic music doyen Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagvathar had apparently said after listening to Kittappa's Evarani. He didn't stop with that. As it happened, a vinyl record of Harikesnallur Muthiah Bhagavathar was said to be in the works.

He not only stopped that but also sent the money he had received for the same to Kittappa for his version of the song. There cannot be a bigger and more moving musical tribute than this. Muthiah Bhagavathar also composed the song Andavan Darisaname specifically for Kittappa, and the significance of the song is that it doesn’t have his authorial stamp (name) as is the wont normally.  

The Hit Pair Of Kittappa And Sundarambal — A True Musical Love Story

By the early 1920s, Kittappa's musical prowess was getting better and his fame was zooming. In June of 1924, as per the wishes of his parents, he got married to Kittammal of Tirunelveli. 

There was enormous demand for his musical plays from far and wide. At that time, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was a big market for Tamil music. Kittappa and his brothers were sought out by that music impresario Singam Iyengar.

The latter's plan was to pit Kittappa's musical skills against K B Sundarambal, the original musical diva of that time, who was then stationed in Ceylon and performing her peerless music.

There were many who tried to dissuade Kittappa from setting off to Ceylon and performing alongside Sundarambal. They said that Kittappa would come a cropper against the ringing voice of Sundarambal.

But Kittappa was not the one to back off from any creative challenge and so he arrived in Ceylon to take on the genius of Sundarambal. And what followed is the stuff of true legends. 

As was the norm those days, their shows were billed as 'Rajapart' Kittappa and 'Streepart' Sundarambal. The Valli Thirumanam drama with them in the leads became a sensational hit that it is among the hall of fame shows in Tamil musical history. The Kittappa-Sundarambal combo had become a hit pair among the public.

As it happened, the two also hit it off personally too. They appeared in numerous plays as a duo across Tamil Nadu and soon enough tied the knot in a simple ceremony in Mayavaram (Mayiladuthurai) much to the chagrin of both their families.

Kittappa's folks were upset with her caste while Sundarambal's near ones were not too keen on her joining forces with an already married man. The lack of  ease between the two families would forever cast a shadow in the duo's relationship, which, as it happened, did not last long.

Kittappa also fell into the wrong company and picked up wrong habits. After the baby boy born to him and Sundarambal died within a week of his birth, Kittappa was crestfallen. And just in the preceding years, Kittappa had lost his mother and a brother.

It is at this point, he became addicted to the bottle and his ties with Sundarambal soured due to his intransigent ways. She drifted apart from him while he tried to go back to his first wife.

A Nationalist And A Singer’s Singer

Even while personal life was going astray, Kittappa continued to sing. He was also a true nationalist and did a lot for the cause of the independence movement. From 1921 itself he had started wearing khadi, and he conducted several musical plays to rally funds for the freedom struggle.

He was at the forefront for collecting money for the salt satyagraha — a pen that he was using fetched a princely Rs 50 at an auction held at a beach near Triplicane in Chennai. Such was the man's drawing power. At this point, Kittappa had the habit of ending his shows, appearing in a Gandhi topi and singing Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram.

Even as his health was failing due to his unwanted habits, his musical ability was still intact. Legends of the time like Trichy Govindaswamy Pillai, Kanchipuram Naina Pillai, Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, Marungapuri Gopala Krishna Iyer, Pudukottai Dakshinamoorthy Pillai, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and Thiruvaduthurai Rajarathinam Pillai unfailingly turned up at his dramas and sat in the first row to listen to his resonant singing.

His virutham singing had no parallels, then, and even now. His booming sruthi-filled singing also impressed Hindustani stalwarts like Pandit Vishnu Digambar and Professor Ganesh Prasad. The later chief minister M G Ramachandran has also recorded in his memoir his meeting as a fledgling drama actor with the ‘stage drama great Kittappa’. 

By 1933, he constantly complained of stomach pain as his liver had started acting up. No treatment could help and he passed away in Thiruvarur, where he had fainted earlier during a performance, in December 1933. A musical light had been snuffed out when it was burning bright.

He was 27 and Sundarambal was just 25. But she practically became a saint after that. She gave up her colourful clothes and embraced only white, and stopped acting with male actors. Gave up milk, soda and rich food and stuck to only satvik items.

She also eschewed wearing gold ornaments and lived the life of a seer. She drowned her inner sorrows in her singing, and became a real superstar of Tamil films who commanded a fee of Rs 1 lakh even then — she gave away most of the money to charity. 

The life and music of Kittappa may have been unavailable for posterity if he did not have the nous to record them on vinyl plates. And also one of his trusted friends, the nationalist Akkur Anandachari, penned down some part of the great man's musical life and times.

The well-known writer Kalki Krishnamurthy, a music critic in his own right, had also said glowing things about Kittappa's singing and musical repertoire.

It is a tragedy and travesty that Kittappa, the first musical star of the last century in Tamil Nadu, has no memorial. A small reading club that he had himself helped establish, is running in his home town Sengottai. His legacy is perpetuated by those limited songs now mercifully available on Internet and in the memories etched in the minds of musical fans, most of whom were born much later after his death.

The title Iysai Ulaga Mannan (The King of Musical World), which was conferred on him in his heydays, well and truly belongs to him alone.