Traditionalists may sound off if they hear about learning temple instruments ‘chenda’ and ‘edakka’ online. But for Prakasan Pazhambalacode, an exponent of these percussion instruments, the idea is very clear and he is all set to pioneer online teaching.
Prakasan is starting the internet tutorial of edakka and chenda for Malayalis who live in other parts of the world but keep the tradition of their homeland alive in their hearts. The teaching will be through Skype, the freemium voice-over-IP service and instant messaging client. Ten Keralites residing in Dubai, Muscat, Canada and London will comprise his first batch of ‘students’.
“They all are my acquaintances and have been telling me to start the classes for quite sometime now. It was their desire from childhood to learn these instruments which they could not pursue owing to various reasons. Now all of them are well-settled and their interest prompted me to go ahead with the online coaching plan,” Prakasan told Express.
The classes will start on April 1. There will be four classes each month. Every fourth month Prakasan will visit his students in the countries where they reside to assess their progress. “They have agreed to arrange everything for my travel and stay,” he said. Asked about the duration of the course he said that it would depend on the students’ practise as well as their sound sense.
The learning will be with drum practice pad. “Even when we teach edakka and chenda here it is done on wooden boards or stone pieces. Practising on the real instrument is done only a day before ‘arangettam’, the maiden performance. But those living in other countries can’t use the wooden board as it makes a big sound which might disturb other people around,” said Prakasan.
Prakasan, who hails from Palakkad, ‘migrated’ to the capital city five years ago to make the instruments more popular. The 48-year-old started learning the instruments when he was just nine years old. “No writings are available on playing the instruments, neither are any records. Making them more popular means making more people know about them,” he said. Prakasan has already taught chenda to the inmates of the Central Prisons in Viyyur and Poojappura. While the ‘arangettam’ of inmates of the Central Prison here took place during Onam last year, that of their counterparts in Viyyur is scheduled for May 8, the day before the famous ‘Thrissur Pooram.’
The other chenda students of Prakasan include the girls of Sree Chithra Poor Home and the students of the Government School for Visually Impaired at Vazhuthacaud. He gives the classes without charging any fee. Prakasan also coaches young boys at his house in Prasanth Nagar, Ulloor.
Justice V R Krishna Iyer has issued a citation applauding Prakasan’s efforts to teach the jail inmates which he keeps as a valuable recognition. Meanwhile, the work of a docu-fiction on Prakasan, titled An Icon Looks Back, directed by Kichu Aryad has commenced. His wife Asha and children Rema and Reshmi support him in all his endeavours.