Today when culture, music and the lifestyle on the whole are forsaking their identity so as to assume a dodgy globalized temperament, artists who sincerely follow that 'hard' path of maintaining the individuality of their traditional artistic styles are undoubtedly of immense value for the cultural heritage of this country. In this regard, Sri Kodunthirapully Parameswaran has stamped a forte by being a faithful follower of the great Tanjore bani of Mridangam, which he belongs to.
Parameswaran's artistic lineage can be traced back to the Tanjore bani. His grandfather Late Sri Kondunthirappully Swaminatha Iyer, a close comrade of Palghat Mani Iyer, learned the art initially from Tanjore Ponniah Pillai and later from the great Tanjavur Vaidynatha Iyer, himself. The strong foundation of rhythm laid in him by the painstaking training of his grandfather, amply prepared him for the gurukula training from Sangeethakalanidhi Dr TK Murthy, himself the greatest living exponent of the Tanjore school. The golden period of twelve years of gurukulam under Sri Murthy was a turning point in his professional career as a mridangist. He faithfully served and followed his Guru like a shadow and earned outstanding scholarship and experience by playing double mridangam concerts with his Guru. He also had tutelage under Sri Parassala Ravi, which he gratefully recalls to have helped him expand the horizons of his artistic imagination.
Parameswaran's style of performance is highly innovative and vibrant with brisk and uncannily fitting 'cholkettus' and 'mukthayis', epitomizing his ardent loyalty to his school. His ineffable accompaniment standards immensely embellishing such krithis as "Amba Kamakshi" (Bhairavi swara jathi) are indeed instances of supreme artistic virtuosity. He has a perfect mastery over the very difficult fingering techniques of his Guru which brings in pristine clarity of each and every stroke on the mridangam. This, it must be remembered, is a characteristic aesthetic beauty of the Tanjore bani His direct connection to the Tanjore school through his veteran teachers, also helped him understand the much extinct fingering methods and contributions of other early generation laya exponents like Ponniah Pillai, Azhaganambi Pillai, Palani Subrahmanya Pillai, Palghat Mani Iyer etc. In short, it is no exaggeration to term him the authentic ready reference dictionary of the Tanjore school. Apart form nurturing several young vocalists and instrumentalists on the stage, which he earnestly regards as his birth-objective, Parameswaran has earned laudable accolades by accompanying several senior artists like KV Narayanaswamy, TN Seshagopalan, TK Govinda Rao, TV Shankaranarayanan, Trichur Ramachandran etal.
Among the contemporary mridangists, Parameswaran stands out exceptionally unique for his excellent faculty in "Konnakol", a vocal tradition of reciting rhythm, which nowadays, is on its last legs. He inherited this special talent from his Guru, who himself had been inspired by the konnakol performances of the great Pakiriya Pillai of Tanjore. This is a remarkable feature of his teaching in which he has got an innately high caliber. His vivid and perfect rendition of konnakol helps the students to earn a strong basis of rhythm and learn the rhythmic patterns in an impeccable manner. Today there are a handful of prospective students who approach Parameswaran to get specifically trained in his grand style.
In the contemporary music and cultural scenario when cheap gimmickries like record breaking marathon performances and media hyped stories happen to be the shortcuts to cheap stardom and the indexes of musical and cultural merit, the noteworthy but unvoiced contributions of such eminent but habitually reticent artists as Parameswaran, will remain unnoticed and our national heritage entail a colossal loss, unless the art and music lovers congregate time, patience and perseverance to learn, practise, realize and appreciate the vastness and the profundity of our rich cultural legacy.
Sankar
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