Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambeesan from central Kerala and Cherthala Kuttappa Kurup from south Kerala were the two doyens who revolutionised the technical content of Kathakali songs with their knowledge of Carntic classical music.
Nambeesan's fame grew not just through music but through his distinguished disciples too. Of them, Kalamandalam Sankaran Embranthiri was perhaps the only one to attain a star-status at a young age, which he retained till his demise four years ago this month.
The family of the boy from Nilambur had nothing but the sum they received for doing the pooja at a temple. At Kalamandalam he was under the tutelage of Sivaraman Nair and Neelakantan Nambeesan. Embranthiri was neither studious nor did he display skills in any other area related to arts. In his autobiographical notes, Embranthiri has touchingly recollected his lack-lustre days at Kalamandalam. He, however, scraped through the final year diploma examination.
After passing out from Kalamandalam, Embranthiri joined Unnai Warrier Smaraka Kalanilayam, Irinjalakuda, as a trainee-teacher of Kathakali music. Vaikom Velappan Nair was the principal vocalist there from whom Embranthiri gradually grasped the intricacies of leading a Kathakali recital. The colons, semi-colons, and punctuations linked to the marking of the rhythmic beats on the gongs in tune with the execution of kalasams in different tempos and for a variety of characters became fully accessible to Embranthiri under the guidance of Velappan Nair.
His mellifluous voice had by then caught the attention of art lovers in and around Irinjalakuda. Puthoor Achuta Menon, a well-known public figure in those days besides being a Kathakali fan, was quick to realise the musical genius of Embranthiri. Embranthiri's growth was thenceforth meteoric. In a few years, he began commanding the captainship of the Kathakali stage by wielding the gong.
It was probably his stint at Irinjalakuda that helped Embranthiri understand and appreciate the sentimental profundity of plays such as ‘Nalacharitam,' ‘Santhanagopalam,' ‘Keechakvadham,' ‘Rukmangadacharitam,' ‘Kuchelavrittam,' and ‘Dakshayagam.'
Evoking the navarasas
His velvety voice, capable of evoking the navarasas through glamorous gamakas, was Embranthiri's speciality. He was perhaps the first vocalist to introduce crooning in Kathakali music.
His rapport with the microphone lent colour and emotional exuberance to a host of characters such as Nala, Bahuka, Rukmangada, Arjuna, Kuchela, Krishna, Damayanthi, Mohini, Malini, Devayani, and so on. Embranthiri's voice modulations distantly echoed those of veteran Carnatic vocalist, Madurai Mani Iyer.
Srutisudham was something unique to the baani of Embranthiri unlike others of his generation who struggled on stage to sustain the sruti amidst the loudness of percussion-music. His singing captivated listeners well beyond the frontiers of Kathakali. Little wonder then that Embranthiri became a popular name even outside Kathakali circles.
‘Usha-Chitralekha,' an excerpt from the play, ‘Banayudham,' was Embranthiri's favourite. The dialogues between the Nayika and the Sakhi in verses became a high point to compare other vocalists. ‘Kim kim aho sakhi' in raga Joanpuri and ‘Kamopamaroopan' in raga Charukesi were his masterpieces. Sringara rasa danced on his tongue each time he sang these padams before hundreds of sahridayas. Similarly, ‘Paripaahi mam,' Panchali's padam to Krishna in the play ‘Duryodhanavadham' moved the rasikas to tears.
Embranthiri's predilection for the play, ‘Karnasapadham,' was the culmination of his sentimental singing.
The heart-rending encounter between Karna and Kunti was Embranthiri's piece-de-resistance. The soliloquy of Karna, ‘Enthiha manmaanase,' in raga Indolam and the padam of Kunti, ‘Othunnenoru satyam' in raga Surutti in the honeyed inflections of Embranthiri bore the piercing anguish of both the son and the mother. Next to sringara and sorrow, his favourite expression was bhakti. Obsession with the emotion-soaked plays eventually distanced Embranthiri from the classicism of the plays of Kottayathu Thampuran. On the occasions he sang ‘Kalyanasaugandhikam' or ‘Kirmeervadham,' the padams automatically turned into outpourings of bhava.
Many honours
Embranthiri was the sole Kathakali vocalist to win the Swathi Puraskaram, the Government of Kerala's highest honour for musicians. He had already received the title of Sangeetaratnam from his alma mater, Kerala Kalamandalam as a special honour. Numerous are the awards he received from cultural organisations all over Kerala.
Diabetes crippled him. Still, he continued to hypnotise his listeners with his Kathakali vocal music concerts. As his vision blurred, he found it difficult to accompany the actors on stage. Yet no vocalist posed a threat to the hegemony of Embranthiri during his lifetime.
