Percussion maestro Thrippekulam Achutha Marar, whose prowess on the chenda made many panchavadyam ensembles delectable, passed away at his house in Irinjalakuda here on Saturday. He was 93.
His funeral will be held at his residence on Sunday. Thrippekulam had been the recipient of many awards and accolades.
His contributions to panchavadyam and pandimelam had won him many awards, including the Pallavur Award, national and state Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awards and Kalamandalam Melacharya Puraskaram, to name a few.
Born at Urakam, a place that is known as the cradle of traditional melam artists and recently celebrated the 500th year of Panchari Melam, he was the eldest son of Seetharaman Embranthiri and Pappi Marasyar of Thrippekulath Marath.
Achutha Marar was a thavil musician in his early days. His initial training in the thavil was under the tutelage of Nellikkal Narayanapanicker.
Later he was attracted to chenda and mastered the ritualistic lessons on the chenda in a traditional way.
He also performed pancharimelam as a service to the presiding deity at Urakam temple for more than a couple of decades.
In memory of his service, the Urakam temple authorities had honoured the Thrippekkulam Achutha Marar along with chenda wizard Pandarathil Kuttan Marar, who has also been leading the panchari melam at the Urakam temple festival for the past 14 years, as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations of Panchari last month.
Thrippekkulam, a self-made and self-taught artiste who honed his skills through relentless practice, had also successfully managed to soak up the art of playing the thimila, besides imbibing the initial lessons in thayampaka from the renowned Peruvanam Appu Marar. He was among the few who had performed both for Panchavadyam on thimila and Pandimelam on chenda for the famed Thrissur Pooram.
He also accompanied Koodiyattam maestro Ammannur Madhavachakyar during his programmes as a thimila artist.
His association with leading percussionist from central Kerala also helped him to emerge as a leading self-taught artists in the state.
He had led the percussion ensemble for almost all the temple festivals in central Kerala, including the royal Panchari at Tripunithura, Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikam Temple, Peruvanam Mahadeva Temple and Aaraattupuzha.
He was successful in mesmerising crowds at the festival venues by producing the mathematical progression of beats in different styles in its purest form.
Right from the start, Marar used to control the kaalapramanam with precision and build up the structure of a Panchari melam, as he possessed the knack of calculating kaalapramanam to suit the duration of the melam, which resulted in the smooth flow of performance from one stage to the next.
In his condolence note, Minister of Cultural Affairs K C Joseph said that he was a matchless percussionist of his times and would always have an iconic status among percussion maestros in the state.