Senior mridangist of Carnatic tradition B.K. Chandramouli, 70, died on Friday at his residence in Rajajinagar in Bengaluru.
He was suffering from liver cancer for the last few months, said his son and mridangist B.C. Manjunath.
Referred to as the "Hero of Laya" in Karnataka, a host of young percussionists trained by him recollected the master strokes the vidwan wielded. He was one of the rare left-handed mridangists whose diversity of tone and texture stood out even during larger tala-vadhya ensembles.
He was a child prodigy and his mother Rajamma Keshavamurthy initiated him into music as a toddler. By eight, Chandramouli had started to accompany well-known musicians. Even before his graduation he had his pakkavadhya for most of the leading musicians of the 1960s and 70s, including R.K. Sriantan and T.V. Shankaranarayanan. He was, for long, associated with the forming of the Karnataka Ganakala Parishath.
“My father was trained under veterans like Gopal Rao, Palghat Raghu and Ayyamani Iyer,” says Mr. Manjunath. “He always told me that even when his gurus came to know of his dominant left-hand, the three teachers never tried changing this. He moulded into his own style."
He was one of the rare percussionists and Konakkol (verbal percussion) artists who had accompanied four different generations of artistes.
Chandramouli nephew and llautist Amith Nadig said that Chandramouli had not just travelled widely, but had trained nearly 500 percussionists. "His lec-dems were veritable classes that both the music lovers and the uninitiated looked forward to,” says Mr. Amith. He said that Chandramouli was a pioneer in Konakkol vocabulary and had researched into the 400-year-old art.
The mridanga vidwan was also known for his organisational capabilities especially as he was associated with the Tyagaraja Gana Sabha and the Malleswaram Sangeeta Sabha.
His last rites are on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Harishchandraghat. Chandramouli is survived by his wife Jayanthi, son and daughter B.C. Harini.
