It is much more than rhythm
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Palghat Raghu's percussive artistry goes beyond mere rhythm control and performing capabilities, since it is underlined by laya aesthetics, observes SULOCHANA PATTABHIRAMAN.
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Palghat Raghu
PALGHAT RAGHU, one of the distinguished among the contemporary group of senior percussionists, has occupied centre stage for many long decades with quiet dignity. Perhaps it is not entirely unjustified that his accomplishments, contribution and achievements in the theatre of Carnatic music as a reputed mridanga vidwan, have not been adequately sung. Born in Rangoon, Burma, January 9, 1928, to Ramaswami Iyer and Ananthalakshmi, Raghu showed a flair for the mridangam even at the tender age of three. It was a stroke of good fortune that the redoubtable laya expert Tinniyam Venkatrama Iyer whose mastery was well-recognised, visited Rangoon in the mid-Thirties and spotting the boy's talent stayed on and took him under his wing.
Young Raghu's first stage appearance was when he was seven years old along with his Guru. Since then he has not looked back. The family came to India in 1940 when the Second World War was at the height of its intensity. It was another instance of divine benediction that Raghu had the special privilege of having his prodigious skills moulded, honed and shaped by the Numero Uno mridangist of that time, Palghat Mani Iyer.
Raghu, meanwhile, had a worthy academic innings, having obtained a degree in Mathematics, but his preference to become involved in Carnatic music as a mridangam artiste stood him in good stead. He has commanded the respect of top ranking vidwans, both vocalists and instrumentalists, as he always strives to be part of the concert team, contributing to the overall success of performance and refraining from exhibiting an attitude of one-upmanship.
The vidwan's percussive artistry goes beyond mere rhythm control and performing capabilities, since it is underlined by laya aesthetics. The dexterity of his technique, felicitous facile percussive expression, superb anticipation and absolute dignity and decorum on the concert stage, place Raghu in an orbit of his own. No practitioner of laya vadhyams can aspire to become a complete artiste if he is not blessed with a keen sense of Sangeetha Gnana. That Raghu is well equipped in this aspect is amply manifest when he provides exemplary, sensitive support to the main performer in accordance to his style and standards. In his solo forays, he reveals commendable catholicity of taste, and establishes his mastery of the percussive idiom.
Raghu has enriched the kutcheris of many titans of yesteryear such as Palladam Sanjeeva Rao (flute), Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Madurai Mani Iyer, Alathoor Brothers, Sattur Subramaniam and KVN to mention only a few. Lalgudi Jayaraman, T. N. Krishnan, and the Lalgudi siblings and many others enjoy the reassuring presence of Raghu on the concert dais today. He willingly plays for up and coming artistes, encouraging and inspiring them to raise their performing levels. Raghu has been invited by international organisations to tour foreign countries, and also for teaching assignments at the Wesleyen University and at Berkeley, California.
The series of sitar concerts by Pandit RaviShankar accompanied by Raghu on the mridangam and the maestro Alla Rakha on the tabla drew packed houses in the U.S., and were unqualified successes.
Raghu is a respected and reputed Guru, having trained a large number of students over the years, many of whom have made a mark for themselves in the contemporary performing arena. Thrissur Narendran and Manoj Siva and Abhishek Raghuram are three of the torch-bearers of the Raghu tradition of laya. He is the recipient of awards and titles from numerous cultural institutions all over the world. Yet, Raghu remains what he has always been — a suave sophisticated individual, discriminating in artistic taste and judgment.
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