Young women artistes join veterans percussionists at a novel melappadam performance

Women today have a credible presence on the Kathakali stage, both as actors and vocalists. And a recent programme, where two young female singers teamed up with two senior percussion artistes and gurus, raised their profile still higher.

Melappadam, a music-and-rhythm ensemble that precedes a Kathakali performance, had two young singers Deepa Palanad and Meera Rammohan teaming up with veterans Cherpulasseri Sivan, 75, on the maddalam and 68-year-old Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar on the chenda. Their sons, Kalamandalam Hariharan and Mattannur Sreekanth respectively, completed the four-member percussion team. The first half of melappadam comprises vocals interspersed by drums, while the latter half is pure percussion. It offers scope for creativity and improvisations in terms of both raga and tala.

It was the novelty of two women teaming up with veterans that drew the attention of the Kathakali world. Balakrishnan Aniyan, who organised the event at Vazhenkada Kunjunair Smaraka Trust in Palakkad, says he received a lot of encouragement from connoisseurs. “Though, there were others who expressed reservations about such a combination, the success of the programme was enough to convince them,” he added.

Sankarankutty Marar, the chenda maestro and a Padma Shri awardee, said he liked the idea. “Deepa and Meera are accomplished artistes and need to be encouraged. My guru has taught me that a teacher should instil love and respect, not fear, in a disciple. That’s what I told them too.”

Dream come true

Deepa said she is used to performing with men on the Kathakali stage but it was the first time that she performed melappadam with such eminent gurus. Meera said that even when she was comfortable singing for Kathakali, a melappadam of this stature was a dream come true.

Said Deepa: “I was more tensed because performing with a genius such as Sivan asaan is not easy. But looking back it was my most comfortable stage, thanks to the on-stage cues and encouraging smiles from Mattannur asaan.”

Deepa Palanad and Meera Rammohan teaming up with veterans Cherpulasseri Sivan, 75, on the maddalam and 68-year-old Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar on the chenda.
| Photo Credit: Pradeep Thennatt

That the two veterans joined these young women, and encouraged them made their performance stand out. It turned out to be a classical ‘old-fashioned’ presentation, devoid of all modern flourishes in both the ragas used and the rhythmic combinations.

As a music lover had put it: “While Deepa, with her high-pitched sopana style, which reminded one of the late legend Unnikrishna Kurup, soared to imaginative heights, Meera with her Carnatic rendition provided the ideal counterpoint.”

Balakrishnan is happy about the global reach of the programme, sponsored by San Francisco-based Thapasya Arts, and streamed live, as evidenced by the encouraging messages he received. Thapasya has been sponsoring a few events in the last two years. This is symbolic of the healthy trend prevailing in Kerala’s art scene where the tentative charity efforts during Covid are now crystallising into arts activism.

The author, a retired journalist, writes on Kerala’s performing arts.