Immortal strains of melody
V. KALADHARAN
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Kalamandalam Hyderali's demise has left a void that will be hard to fill.
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Kalamandalam Hyderali Photo: H. Vibhu
It was darkness at noon. A melody cut short by destiny. The news of the car-accident in which Kalamandalam Hyderali was crushed to death spread like wildfire. It was a tragic end to a life that had seen and survived many ups and downs. He was on his way to Kalamandalam, a home away from home, when the accident occurred. "Who can rewrite the sirolikhitam?" is a refrain in the Kathakali plays that Hyderali had sung many a time.
Wadakkancherry, where Hyderali hailed from, and his ancestral family were no strangers to traditional art forms. Yet, Kathakali and its music were quite alien to his family. His innate talent for music was evident at a very young age. But when Hyderali was advised to join Kalamandalam for training in music, his family was embarrassed. To his parents, Kerala Kalamandalam was then an mysterious institution associated with some sort of music and dance.
However, his thirst for music and destiny brought him to Kalamandalam. He was the first non-Hindu to be admitted there for training in Kathakali music. At the time of the interview, his rendition of the film song, `Kalle! Kaniville' drew the attention of Neelakandan Nambeesan, the doyen of Kathakali music while Vallathol carefully observed the boy.
Kalamandalam days
The campus and kalaries of Kalamandalam opened the doors to a different world. In his autobiographical notes, he vividly recollects the pangs of discrimination and condescension. Looked down upon by some of his classmates and laughed at by several of the caste-conscious gurus, Hyderali had thought of fleeing from the campus. But he lacked the courage and financial backing to look for an alternative. September to May is the season when Kalamandalam Kathakali troupes are invited for recitals in temple festivals. When all the teachers and students moved from temple to temple, Hyderali was left alone on the campus. Yet, the youngster finished the eight-year course with distinction. The lone flame of support for him during those turbulent days was his guru Neelakandan Nambeesan.
Becoming a professional
When M.K.K. Nair, the then managing director of FACT and founder of the Udyogamandal Kathakali School, offered him the post of Kathakali vocalist, Hyderali could not stop his tears of joy. It was Nambeesan who had requested M.K.K. Nair to select Hyderali for the job. Nambeesan had realized that his dear disciple would find it difficult to survive without a permanent employment. M.K.K. too thought along the same lines.
At Udyogamandal, Hyderali began establishing himself as a professional artiste in the Seventies. He started singing for Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam recitals. He had been the favourite vocalist of Kalamandalam Kshemavathy.
As a student of Kalamandalam, Hyderali had taken Carnatic music lessons from N.K.Vasudeva Panickar, a little known musician of amazing creativity. Those lessons helped him mould a career in dance music. But his dalliance with dance music did not last long. He followed the dictates of his conscience and returned to the challenging realm of Kathakali music.
Stamp of the maestro
When Hyderali re-entered the Kathakali stage with grit and confidence, few rasikas thought he would conquer a space of his own amidst those well-established icons. Surprisingly he did. He had an intuition that difference rather than homogeneity was the hallmark of beauty.
Hyderali realigned the raga renditions both in the stanzas and in the padams of popular plays like `Nalacharitam,' `Rukmangadacharitam,' `Duryodhanavadhom,' `Keechakavadhom' and so on.
He was influenced by the highly sophisticated brigas that characterised the styles of stalwarts in Carnatic music like M. Balamuralikrishna and K.J. Jesudas.
Hyderali applied similar brigas in the famous padams like `Kundinanayaka' in `Nalacharitam Onaam Divasam' `Khoravipinam' in the same play (Munaam Divasam, `Harinakshi' in `Keechakavadhom,' `Sumasara' in `Rukmangadacharitam' and the charanam, `Bhoorivikrama' in `Duryodhanavadhom.'
One can cite scores of such padams that carried his stamp. Hyderali experimented with unfamiliar ragas in the treatment of some of the short yet emotionally vibrant padams like `Saakethathe samthyajikkam' (`Rukmangadacharitam') in raga Chandraghosh, `Danaardhikkunee' (`Karnashapadhom') in raga Durga and others of the same genre.
His rendition of the hunter's padam to Damayanthi in Nalacharitam Randaam Divasam' carried a subtle variation as he transferred several of its charanams into the madhyamam of raga Madhyamavathy. This variation provided a folk texture and charm to the actions and expressions of the hunter.
Subhapanduvarali, Maand, Navarasakannada, Sreeranjini and a host of similar enchanting ragas found apposite manifestations in Kathakali music when Hyderali applied each of them with prudence and propriety.
Despite his unmatched reputation as a Kathakali vocalist, Hyderali sensed the reservations some experts felt about his experimentations. By the late Eighties, Hyderali most of his experimentations in ragas and briga renditions. He chose a middle path between radical reformations and conventional classicism.
When asked about this transformation, Hyderali commented: "It took over a decade for me to realise that aficionados of Kathakali were disenchanted by my reformations. I value their views considerably and have hence decided to cut short my adventures."
From then onwards, Hyderali discarded his apathy towards the plays of Kottayath Thampuran, Manthredath Nambudiripad, Karthika Tirunal and the like. The discipline, compactness, precision and restraint with which he sang those plays enticed not only titans like Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair and Gopi but even the highly orthodox segments of the audience. Hyderali was soon acknowledged as a colossus in Kathakali music by the conservative elite and the mavericks alike.
Place in history
But Hyderali was more than a Kathakali artiste. His interests ranged from music and literature to painting and contemporary theatre. Arguments and debates were an innate passion for him. Hyderali was honest and straightforward.
He had an innocence and serenity that disarmed even his detractors.
Once in a freewheeling interview, this writer grew inquisitive about the reactions of his community to his esoteric orientations.
Hyderali smiled and remarked: "They are absolutely unconcerned about my activities and have never shown any curiosity about my profession. None among them has dictated any terms against my interests and pre-occupations. To them, I have always been an enigma. But they let me live the way I want to."
Hyderali as an eminent vocalist had, long back, immortalised his name in Kerala's art history. In the larger context, this lonely crusader will always be remembered as a symbol of secular humanism.
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