Making up for the many stages lost this season due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, Kathakali musicians are giving connoisseurs some memorable moments, singing various Kathakali padams and posting them on Facebook.
Musicians like Palanad Divakaran and Sudeep Palanad, Kalamandalam Surendran, Athipatta Ravi Namboothiri, Kottakkal Madhu and family, Kottakkal Santhosh, Kottakkal Narayanan Karumana, Nedumpilly Rammohan and his wife Meera Rammohan, his disciples, Kalanilayam Rajeevan and his son, and many others have been posting their songs in Kathakali groups on Facebook.
Talks too
Many Kathakali appreciation forums on the social media have come together to organise these programmes. One of these forums recently organised a talk by veteran Kathakali artiste Nelliyode Vasudevan Namboothiri on understanding Kathakali performances and his journey in Kathakali. Another senior artiste Sadanam Krishnankutty took to the platform on May 6 sharing his thoughts on maestro Kalamandalam Ramankutty Warrier.
Ottanthullal artistes have also taken to the social media with their art. Artiste Ranjith Tripunithura in association with his teacher and Thullal maestro Kalamandalam Prabhakaran presented Thullal Sangeetha Maadhuri on Thullal music in 20 ragas. With his guru away in Cherthala, consultations on various portions on the episodes before the actual presentation were really challenging, said Ranjith.
From April 29 to May 8, Ranjith presented the programme on Facebook and his guru also participated in the final episode.
“In each episode, I presented two padams from Thullal and a Carnatic kriti of the same raga. This was to create awareness of the importance of ragas in Thullal. Thullal padams are taken from different stories, but seldom has anyone given importance to the musical senses in the Thullal padams,” said Ranjith.
