The thaniyavarthanam was set at a scorching pace. Tripunithura Radhakrishnan’s fingers glided across the ghatam and it seemed to come alive creating ripples of pure rhythm. The ghatam was no longer an empty earthen pot; it transformed into a reservoir of potential. In those electrifying moments, the ghatam and the player seemed to become one.
It is artistes like Radhakrishnan who have managed to give this upapakkavadyam (supporting instrument) due recognition and not just a place in the corner of a kutcheri stage. And this took Radhakrishnan 50 years, painful hours of training and an unflinching passion to make this hardened clay pot sing.
The Golden Jubilee of Radhakrishnan’s musical journey and his 60th birthday will be celebrated at ‘Layolsavam’, an event slated to be held at Sastha Mandir, Tripunithura, on December 3.
Radhakrishnan’s first stage performance was on January 16, 1967. “I was studying in 4th standard when I got this chance to play the kanjira for a concert for Rajan Iyer in a temple near my home at Poonithura. There was no violin for that concert, instead there was the harmonium. That’s all I remember of that concert,” says Radhakrishnan.
After that concert, for some time, Radhakrishnan played the kanjira for the Harikatha performances of AP Menon. “Those days I played the tabla for ganamelas , ballets, dramas, the mridangam for dance recitals and even for villadichan pattu . This happened till I began playing the ghatam. In fact, one of my childhood games was a mock kutcheri where I played the ghatam, which was an earthen pot emptied of its water.”
Radhakrishnan’s father, G Narayanaswamy (fondly called Aacham) was a mridangam vidwan and taught students at his home. “Listening to my father teaching was how I began learning to play the mirdangam formally. My father did not want me or any of his sons to take up music as a career because of the struggle he had to undergo. Two of my brothers, who were adept in playing various instruments, gave up their dreams to take up office jobs.”
In Radhakrishnan’s case, life took a different turn though he did work for some time in a chartered accountant’s office after getting through his typewriting exams. “Those days there were very few ghatam players around. Moreover, I got a lot of support from Nedumagad Sivanandan (violin) and Vaikom Bhasi (mridangam) who recommended me for many concerts. These concerts kept me going and earn some pocket money too.”
One concert that turned out to be a trial by fire was at Ambalapuzha in 1974. “It was an RK Srikantan concert. He and mridangam vidwan TAS Mani could not come as train traffic was hit by floods. There was a huge crowd waiting patiently. Noted violinist M Chandrasekaran decided that we play till Neyyattinkara Vasudevan (substitute for the singer) reached the venue. That was a challenge and we managed to engage the audience for nearly two hours. I got ₹ 100 for that performance.”
Life was not easy though as nothing could be taken for granted. Radhakrishnan quit his clerk’s job and had decided on a career in music. “The hardened clay often left me with swollen hands. I used to try and hide it from my mother who saw me grimace in pain when I dipped my hand into hot rice and sambar. My father realised that his plans for me were not going to work and took me along for concerts.”
Then came the momentous evening which proved a prelude to Radhakrishnan becoming a recognised percussionist. KJ Yesudas was singing at the Valanjambalam Temple at Ernakulam and after the concert through Mavelikkara Krishnankutty Nair, Radhakrishnan was introduced to Yesudas. “The introductions over, Dasettan and Krishnankutty Sir asked me to play for the next concert at Fort Kochi a few days later, March 31, 1976, to be exact. That was my first concert with Dasettan.”
Radhakrishnan’s association with Yesudas extends beyond professional relationship. The singer became an angelic benefactor. “For the past 41 years, I have been a sort of ‘permanent’ member of Dasettan’s group. I made my first tour abroad, to the US, with him and still continue to do so. I began to get noticed only after this. At the Madras Music Academy, a musician has to come up from the early kutechri slots to the main one in the evening. But I had the fortune to make my debut here in the prime slot for Dasettan’s concert.”
In 1979 Radhakrishnan joined RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura, at the insistence of Parassala Ponnammal, the then principal. “Even before I joined RLV, I had accompanied Ponnammal teacher for many concerts. She advised me to join as the certificate would do a lot of good. I rarely attended classes as I had a lot of programmes by then.” Radhakrishnan went on to complete his Ganapraveena from Thiruvananthapuram. Since, music colleges do not offer a course in ghatam, he post-graduated in mridangam, which is considered the mother of all percussion.
Soon, Radhakrishnan grew into a busy ghatam artiste in an eventful music field. He went on to play for some of the greatest names in Carnatic music and the list includes a virtual who’s who right from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, M Balamuralikrishna, S Ramanathan, Madurai Somasundaram, ML Vasanthakumari, Maharajapuram Santhanam, MD Ramanathan to MS Gopalakrishnan, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Chitti Babu, L Subramaniam, U Srinivas, Shashank to the young generation of musicians.
In this five-decade long career, Radhakrishnan has performed at prestigious venues across the globe, composed and conducted a talavadya programme, recorded albums with numerous artistes, runs a music school dedicated to his father, and has also been part of the background score of films like Pooram, Rakakuyilin Ragasadas , Sree Ragam, Padamudra, Devasuram . “Most of the films happened when I was in Thiruvananthapuram and through the insistence of MG Radhakrishnan.”
Looking back at an eventful life, Radhakrishnan feels that he was very fortunate and everything seems to be a long dream. His eyes fill up and his voice breaks when he recounts the days of struggle, “On so many occasions, I have been dropped off at the bus stand late in the night and I had to squeeze myself into the bus with the ghatam. I have waited long hours for a bus to take me from Ernakulam to Tripunithura as those days I did not earn enough to spend on an autorickshaw. But all this only steeled my resolve to move ahead.”
