Veteran of melam
G.S. PAUL
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Trippekkulam Achuta Marar, recipient of the fourth Pallavur Appu Marar Puraskaram, believes that only experience and practice can make one a master of melam.
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At the helm: Trippekkulam Achuta Marar.
At 86, Trippekkulam Achuta Marar is one of the few ‘pramanakkarans’ (helmsmen) of chenda melams in Kerala. Recently Achuta Marar was selected for the fourth Pallavur Appu Marar Puraskaram of the Kerala State Government. Marars are tra
ditional temple musicians and Achuta Marar, whose family was attached to Oorakam Temple in Thrissur district, grew up listening to rhythms and music (sopana) that formed part of the worship. He served the temple for 34 years.
“As a child, I was taught the tavil by Nellikkal Narayana Panicker and thus began my career as percussionist,” Achuta Marar said while explaining how this early exposure benefitted him later.
Occasions such as kavady, weddings, Navarathry and temple festivals saw him accompanying nagaswaram stalwarts. Marar attributed his dexterity in ‘panchaari melam, which is more musical than ‘paandi,’ to this exposure to various kinds of music.
Consummate ‘melakkaran’
It was again his astute sense of music that motivated him to practise the edakka, the musico-percussion instrument peculiar to Kerala. Even before graduating into a consummate ‘melakkaran,’ Achuta Marar had established himself as a wizard on the timila, the soul of panchavadyam. His memory is still afresh when he recalled his participation in the much sought-after panchavadyam of ‘Madhathile varavu’ of Thiruvambadi Temple in connection with Thrissur Pooram. For 16 years in succession he had accompanied doyens like Annamanada Achuta Marar, Annamanada Peethambara Marar, Naanu Marar, and Kuzhur Kuttappa Marar.
It was his father Trippekkulam Govinda Marar who had initiated him on the chenda. Performances during ‘siveli’ in the temple helped him hone his skills. Achuta Marar believes that being a collective effort with varied stages of rhythm, it is not possible for any one to learn melam individually. “All such efforts in recent times to offer courses in melam are meaningless,” he pointed out. The only way is to join the group and practise. But the basic lessons can be learnt while practising thayambaka. One gains much by listening to melams as a beginner. The same is applicable to artistes who play the kuzhal, the kombu and the elathalam,"he opined.
Achuta Marar has participated in the festivals of all major temples in Kerala, including Thripunithura, Chottanikkara and Guruvayur. Duration of the melam may vary from temple to temple. The onus of prescribing the time interval between two beats in the slowest tempo (first tempo), is on the shoulders of the ‘pramanakkaran.’ Any slight error in this may upset the whole schedule as the culmination of the melam usually takes place in the fifth tempo. Asked about the remarkable precision he has been demonstrating all these years in this respect, Marar replied, “It’s all experience.”
Smooth transition
Achuta Marar continued, “It is the duty of the helmsman to see that the transition from one stage to the other of the rhythms is smooth unlike the change in the tempo in classical music. Incidentally it is this feature that attributes a pyramid-like structure to the melam. Also it is experience alone that helps one in cocoordinating the various departments including 75 chendas, 20 kuzhals, 20 kumbus and 40 elathalams in a standard melam.
It was four years ago that Achuta Marar retired from performance and his last performance was in the Thiruvambadi melam in Pooram was in 2003. His retirement had hogged much media attention as he had served as the helmsman for 15 years in the same temple. But age is not a deterrent for such an artiste whose passion for percussion is widely known. Last month he chose to lead the panchaari melam for two hours at the Irinjalakuda temple festival.
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