KOCHI: With Kottakal Madhu, the question on who would succeed Unnikrishna Kurup, Hyder Ali, Sankaran Embranthiri and Venmani Haridas in kathakali music never existed.
Madhu is undoubtedly the most prominent exponent of kathakali music at present. He is the first preferred by all prominent maestros including Kalamandalam Gopi.
One among six children of a middle class couple in the Kongad village of Palakkad, Madhu, 48, was initiated to music at age nine. In 1980, he joined the PSV Natyasangham, Kottakkal, an performing arts institute, to learn kathakali music.
“I knew nothing about kathakali music when I joined PSV. It was my father who took me to the new stream of music. At the time of admission, I sang ‘Radhika Krishna Radhika’ in front of Kalamandalam Unnikrishna Kurup”, remembers Madhu.
At PSV, Madhu was trained under a string of maestros such as Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambisan, Kottakal Parameswaran Namboodiri and Kottakal Gopala Pisharody. Madhu is proud of himself in telling that he is the last pupil of the legend Neelakantan Nambisan.
“Nambisan ashan taught me the basics of kathakali music. Whatever reputation I have today, I owe it to my teachers at PSV,” he remarks.
Madhu was also trained in Carnatic music for ten years under Madhavan Nair. Learning Carntic music helped him in develop his knowledge in the ragas of kathakali music. “Most of the ragas used in kathakali music are from the Carnatic genre. But there are also ragas in kathakali music, which are not found in Carnatic music,” says Madhu.
After his first kathakali music performance in 1983, Madhu realised his future lay in kathakali music. “After my first performance I realised my potential. I was confident in my abilities and I enjoyed the life in kathakali,” he says.
From then, Madhu has had a busy career as a regular singer at PSV Natyasangham, the kathakali troupe in the state with the most number of bookings for kathakali performances in a year. Over the course of his career, he has performed at several places around the country as well as in Europe and the Middle East, and has sung for several kathakali maestros which includes Kalamandalam Gopi, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair and Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair.
“Singing for Gopi ashan was the highest moment of my career. It was one of the best training I could ever get, which immensely helped me develop my skills. I thank God and my teachers for shaping the best out of me,” he said.
In 1990, Madhu became a music teacher at PSV, and has been training hundreds of young Kathkali aspirants. “A kathakali singer has to concentrate on every body movement of the actor in order to synchronise the song and the movements. He should be able to control the rhythm and tempo of the music, which helps the actor to perfect his performance,” says Madhu.
At present, Madhu is also involved in experimenting with the subtlety of ragas in kathakali music and composing new ones. He performs several Jugalbandis with carnatic music singers Trichy Ganesan and Shenkottai Harihara Subramania Iyer. He also conducts kathakali music concerts, as an effort to popularise kathakali music among the new audience. “Earlier people found it difficult to understand the kathakali songs. But now, the music has undergone several transformations, thereby making it more palatable to common people. As a result, there are more audience to kathakali, unlike the olden days when only the upper class Brahmins were able to enjoy it,” he added. He has also lent his voice to several Malayalam films such as ‘Vanaprastham’, ‘Anandabhairavi’, ‘Sopanam’ and ‘Njan’. Madhu is also a recipient of various awards such as Natyadharmi, the Kalasagar award, and other awards constituted in memory of prominent kathakali maestros such as Kalamandalam Hyderali.