Eyebrows that twirl up in excitement, drumsticks that roll and spin in the air, fuzzy mops in a frenzy and foreheads that crinkle - the tempo of Ragavadyalaya is truly infectious. Conceived and created by the acclaimed percussionist Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar, Ragavadyalaya is indeed an exotic combination of percussion instruments such as chenda, tavil, timila, maddhalam, tabala, mridangam, elathalam and drums with nadaswaram, and keyboards.
And they call it a typical Kerala Fusion. ‘‘It has raaga, it has vaadya and it has laya. This is an idea that I had nurtured for a long time. I always wanted to do a fusion, with our traditional percussion instruments and that was how Ragavadyalaya happened,’’ said Mattannur Sankarankutty.
Ragavadyalaya brings on stage the best of percussion artists who have a liking for fusion. Mattannur, known for his triple thayambaka or trithayambaka, is on the chenda with his sons Mattannur Srikanth and Mattannur Sriraj and Vellinezhi Anand.
‘‘Actually, a lot of thoughts have gone into which instruments go together, which do not and how we could get them all in one shruthi. I think all those who like percussion would enjoy this,’’ said Mattannur Sankarankutty.
The timila is handled by Kariyannur Narayanan Nampoothiri and Kongad Mohanan, maddalam by Kottakkal Ravi and Sadanam Bharatharajan, nadaswaram by Orumanayur Gopi, tavil by Alappuzha R.Karunamoorthi, mridangam by Palakkad Maheshkumar, keyboard by Prakash Ullieri, drums by Thrissur Shomy and on the elathalam, Asiad Sasi and Mattannur Ajith Marar.
This initiative from Mattanur is a big surprise for the Maestro has always been known for his stand against fusion. ‘‘But this is different,’’ says key-boardist Prakash Ullieri. ‘‘In the usual East-West fusion styles, you get to see mridangam, tabla or tavil at the most. Here you find all the traditional instruments of the state such as timila, nadaswaram, elathalalam and so on. Again most of the fusions are melody-based while this is rhythm-based,’’ he said.
The programme starts off by sounding the conch, and ragtharang backed by keyboards and drums. A folk ensemble, Splash followed by thrirag comprising raagas in aaderi, mohanam and desh comes next. The thandav unleashes a percussion storm on the crowd with each percussion instrument complementing the other.
Blending the keyboard with this torrent of percussion is no big deal, said Prakash Ullieri. ‘‘Perhaps it is easier for me because I generally play concerts based on Carnatic music on the keyboards and also ‘folkish’ kind of music, rather than pure Western music. I am used to it. I have also learnt to play chenda, so it is not so much a problem to play along with the percussion maestros,’’ said the keyboardist, who is an alumnus of the Chembai Memorial Music College and now a regular accompanying artist with Hariharan.
The fifth element is the nadalaya which has just the nadaswaram, thavil and mridangam, in the keerthana style. The drum power which follows nadalaya follows the typical Kerala percussion orchestra, starts off on a slow beat, picks up speed, climbing into a near-mesmerising tempo.
After this exotic flow of beats, suddenly there is the calmness of melody followed by the Rage that starts off in ‘ekathalam’, moves to reggae and ends in a Brazilian kind of rhythm. ‘‘For the reggae, basically Shomy and me on the drums and keyboard, give the backing while the traditional percussion instruments join in. It was a huge hit with the crowd when we performed,’’ said Prakash.
The last and final event is the rock chenda in ekathalam, with all instruments taking part in the thaniyavarthanam. What makes it even more interesting is the opportunity given to the audience to become part of this. Ragavadyalaya’s performance is one that will remain etched in the minds of music buffs for a long time.
Till now, Ragavadyalaya has performed at six stages in the state. Its not just a demonstration of what good music is all about, its an expression of sheer brilliance by fifteen pairs of hands.
For more details, contact Praveen Symphony at 9846311004.
reema_narendran@epmltd.com
