Sangeetha Kalanidhi Palghat Raghu

To begin with let me congratulate Palghat Shri Raghu for being awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi atlast. Something that he should have been given alongside T N Krishnan in the early eighties. But may be his seniority was an issue for Music Academy management. Palghat Raghu, took the music world by storm only during late 50's when he became a regular accompaniment for Shri GNB.

Palghat Raghu is a phenomenon by himself. There are only two kind of rasikas. Ones who love Raghu and ones who don't. And the ones who love him will say he is unparellaled and the others will often have a set of criticisms. Lets take sometime to look back at this great musician. Let me make it clear at this junction that I belong to the first category who feels Raghu Mama is a phenomenon unparellaled. Let it be the Keezhkalam that he plays for rendu kalai chavukka keerthanais or the misra nadai he used to play for some keerthanais anupallavi or the theermanam that he has when he begins a thani avartanam. Raghu Mama's mridangam is something that I have grown up with.

Once a friend of mine commented that Palghat Mani Iyer is Don Bradman (the best right hander) and Palani Subramaniam is David Gower(best left hander). Though I laughed at the comparison, something left me thinking about the whole thing. Raghu mama is the best mix of these two pillars of mridangam. Let it be the weight of the Thoppi or the majesty of his playing. He has made a brilliant blend of the greatness of both the schools which created a niche for himself. He is an artiste who is completely aware of his strengths and weaknesses. He for one understood the fact that he is not someone he is not. He never tried imitating Mani Iyer or Palani blindly (like most others of his generation). And he is also the master strategist in my opinion. When he began his career playing for the likes of GNB he was playing in the resonant Kuchi mridangam. That was the time when Palani died an untimely death and Palghat Mani Iyer was at his best. Palghat Mani iyer of the fifties probably the closest we can find to percussion perfection. So Raghu Mama never tried reminding anyone of his guru. He started playing in the Kuchi Mridangam and started filling the void that palani's demise left. Many accuse raghu mama of not having a great sound. I request all of them to listen to GNB's 1957 Music Academy concert. Raghu mama would have been 29 at that time. He had mastered what is called as the "Idam - valam cherkai" or the balance of the bass and treble of the mridangam. His gumukki was virtually singing Darini thelusu konti along with GNB. For the majority of his career, this had been his forte and he continued playing Kuchi mridangam.When Palghat Mani Iyer slowly started to take the back seat, our man shifted to Kappi Mridangam. And he made the transition unbelievably smooth.

Paatu gyanam was another big strength of Raghu Mama. He knew every varnam and every keerthanai thats sung on a stage. Or atleast he makes it sound like that. Listen to how he plays for the chittai swarams of Seethamma mayamma or thaye thripurasundari. As I am writing this blog, I am listening to him playing for KVN's seethamma mayamma. His skill is at its own class when he plays for keerthanais. And he takes it to another level when he plays for kalpanai swaram. He simply catches the karpanai of the main artist with his brilliant anticipation skills.

KVN and Raghu mama are the Arjuna and Krishna of the modern music era. Such is the aura when KVN sings Endaro Mahanubavulu with Raghu mama playing the keerthanai on the mridangam along. Time and again, this has been repeated for the Srinivasa thava charanams, Samaja Varadas and the ra ra maintis.

As a finishing note, I have a request for the current generation mridangists who admire Raghu mama. Please understand that Raghu mama himself never tried imitating anyone. So try to get the essence of his music in your playing rather than imitating him. Even if you imitate him, please imitate him of the sixties and seventies and not the 90's when he didn't have the luxury of the main artists he had during 60s and 70s.

Hearty Congratulations to Shri Raghu Mama and I am proud to have been associated with this great man musically.