KOCHI: Like other musicians, mridangam maestro Trivandrum V Surendran has been one among the torchbearers of a rich tradition, replete with the rhythm and melody learnt from his guru Palghat Mani Iyer. At the age of 77, he still entertains his audience with music from his mridangam.
It has been more than 65 years since Surendran has been playing the mridangam. He started his initial training in mridangam under Professor Mavelikkara K Velukutty Nair, a veteran mridangam master. After being awarded the cultural scholarship of the Government of India, he underwent a systematic advanced training under mridangam maestro Padmabhooshan Sangeetha Kalanidhi Palghat Mani Iyer for eleven years. “Under Palakkad Mani Iyer, I was able to understand all the nuances of the Thanjavur bani of mridanagam playing which was perfected and popularised by Mani Swami,” shared Surendran. He is the first Malayali to be able to undergo such type of training. Later, Palghat Mani Iyer took the initiative himself to secure Surendran the post of the staff artist in All Indian Radio where he gives professional guidance in Mridangam for cultural scholarship students.
With his nimble finger techniques and brilliant playing, Surendran has accompanied some of the famous vocalists and instrumentalists such as Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, K V Narayana Swami and Veena artists such as S Balachandran, K S Narayana Swami. He has won many awards such as Raghuvara Puraskar, Chennai 2017 and the Lifetime Achievement award. He has also been featured in the South Zone hookup concerts and the national programmes of the All India Radio.