Master of the maddalam

Thrikkur Rajan, who passed away recently, was a stickler for conventional aesthetics

Midway through its opening sequence, Panchavadyam gives each maddalam drummer the opportunity to fill up certain slow-paced rhythmic cycles. This is when you might have seen a diminutive man in the centre come up with taps and rolls of distinct firmness. These passages seldom included improvisations. Often, they were sheer reiterations of classicism, yet refreshing for the crowd gathered around the 60-artiste ensemble. Thrikkur Rajan, barely 5 ft tall, looked a titan during those two-hour performances. In a career spanning seven decades, Rajan saw generational shifts in the field, but the resulting change in tastes didn’t prompt him to weave novel patterns to please the audience. Nobody complained that he was repetitive. This reputation as a stickler for conventional aesthetics stayed with Rajan till his death at the age of 83 last week. Temple festivals near and far from home kept the maestro busy from his teenage years. He was 15 when he debuted with the maddalam on a wooden stool. A small-time Keli concert he performed opposite a chenda player and a cymbalist heralded the emergence of a promising new talent from the semi-hilly Thrikkur. Elders had chosen the auspicious Shivaratri for the evening event at their neighbourhood rock shrine, 12 km southeast of Thrissur in central Kerala.