 at a workshop by artist John Baby (left) at the art room of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in December.jpg.image.160.84.jpg)
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One of the biggest fortunes of my life is getting Mattannur Sankarankutty as my guru in chenda. There are experts in every field, but great gurus who can pass on that knowledge are very rare. Mattannur is such a rare persona. If I am playing Panjarimelam with confidence today, sometimes even as the lead, all credit should go to Mattannur.
I first saw him performing live when I was shooting for the movie Thoovalkottaram in Ottapalam. I came to know that Mattannur was going to perform in a temple nearby. I attended the concert at night, relished it and even caught up with him for a brief chat.
In Thoovalkottaram, my character says, “If at all you listen to melam, it should be Mattannur’s or Thrithala Kesavan’s.” I was thrilled after attending his Tayambaka at that temple and this dialogue was added after that.
I am not a regular drummer. And chenda is not my means of livelihood. But still, whenever play it, I am able to do so with confidence because I am blessed with Mattannur’s lessons on melam (percussion) that he instilled in my mind. In Panjari, which is 96 aksharakalam long, I am fluent starting right from pathikalam up till Theerukalasham, all due to Mattannur’s coaching. When Pathikalam is taught, the frequent change of hand that is required was highly confusing. Uruttuchenda is played in tandem with the kurumkuzhal. Mattannur taught me this with the help of a simple prayer and removed all my confusion.
The prayer, ‘Hara hara shiva namah, hara hara shiva namah, shambho shiva namah,’ was to be recited in a particular rhythm. Along with this, Mattannur told me to think of it as a father and five sons – referring to the rhythm of playing five rounds of pathikalam on Chenda. With that prayer, I became thorough with the technique.
Shruthimelam panjari, a new type of melam, has been developed by Mattannur. My debut performance in Shruthimelam panjari was in Malliyoor Mahadeva Temple.
Another type of melam that am very fond of is the paandimelam, an extreme version of asuravaadyam, played during Thrissur Pooram. This May, Mattannur was staying with me in my Chennai home teaching me paandimelam.
Though he has played his instrument in several movies, his first appearance with me was in the movie Thiruvambadi thampan.
Besides the guru-student relationship, we share a sincere, friendly bonding as well.
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