As hard as it is for some to learn one musical instrument, would you believe there are some people who can play more than one instrument, and all at the same time?
Meet P.C. Chandra Bose, a magician, teacher and multi-instrumentalist from Puthuvype near here. He uses both his hands and feet and even mouth to perform an entire percussion ensemble all by himself.
A holder of the Limca Book of Records for performing chendamelam using four instruments for 20 minutes, the 47-year-old artiste now plans to extend his feat by performing for two hours non-stop, and to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. The plan is to perform chendamelam and singarimelam back to back, by playing five instruments simultaneously – three chendas including two valamthala, an ilathalam and a kombu.
“The two valamthala will be played using the right leg and the left hand respectively while the right hand will be used for chenda.
The ilathalam will be connected to the left leg while the kombu will be played simultaneously using the mouth,” says the artiste. For the past one decade, he has been spending several hours a day to practise the manoeuvre.
In his opinion, playing as a one-man ensemble can be complex, but it lets the artiste be as creative as he wants to be. It was the advent of digital sound technology, which produces music by playing several instruments at the same time, that inspired Bose to develop his multi-instrumentalist skills.
30 instruments
Initiated into music at the age of 15, Bose has also mastered over 30 instruments, including guitar, drums and keyboard, among others. Earlier, he used to coax beautiful music by simultaneously playing bugle, side drum, keyboard and cymbals. Bose, who works as music teacher at a private school in Njarakkal, has won several honours, including the Lalithakala Akademi Award and the Ambedkar National Fellowship.
