Sunday Celebrity: Guru Kaaraikudi Mani elevated Mridangam to a different league

It’s the Sri Lankan Tamils spread all over the world are the great patrons of the Music, especially the percussion instrument, Mridangam.

And the hospitality extended by them to a visiting musician or Tamil scholar or personalities from Tamil Nadu is boundless. Again it’s the Sri Lankan Tamils settled abroad who are keen that their wards don’t go out of their Tamil culture, and without fail press them to learn any one of the musical forms—vocal, dance and string, percussion, wind instrument.

The music maestro Guru Kaaraikudi Mani says such hospitlity for musicians here is the thing of the past, although for them there is ‘honour’ on the stage, by sabhas, by academies and by government; although there is the big audience, the cheers, the clap, the shawals and mementoes and all. “But you should enjoy being drenched in hospitality by the Lankan Tamils Diaspora abroad,” he says-- that drench feeling still sitting on him.

This writer met Kaaraikudi Mani at his residence last week for the Asian Tribune. Mani was here for the December Winter music festival in Chennai when we got him. He was engrossed in his rehearsal for the forthcoming Finland Winter music festival this month. He is getting ready for the Symphony Orchestra involving 108 musicians, of which 4 are from India, his team, and the rest western.

What is special in the West and Indian fusion is all the four Mani has included in it are top-ranking performing artists who will have equal importance—while he will be at Mirdangam, Ghatam by V.Suresh, Kanjira by N. Amrit and Kerala’s Chanda by top ranking Kesavan (this is the first time Chenda will be fitted into the symphony). Mani will be holding 2 ‘kutcheries’ in Helsinki, the festival being conducted by the noted Music composer-pianist Eero Haemmeneimi, who is a regular participant at our Margazhi music festival in Chennai. He was here this season too, he says.

“This is not the first time I am being drafted for the Finland Music festival. Ten years before, Eero moved watching my performance here in Chennai immediately booked me for his 70-member Philharmonic Orchestra. A piece called ‘Layapriya’ performed with Finland Philharmonic Orchestra was later performed by the Battery Dance Company as a dance ballet.

Eero Haemmeneimi, who has also learnt Tamil frequently coming here, also has a 6-member group for the western-Indian fusion titled “Nadaam” which in association with Karaikudi Mani’s “Suruthilaya” has brought out a CD “Unmatched”.

About 1500 students world over

“Ninty-nine per cent of my music students in my four schools abroad are the children of the Sri Lankan Tamils,” he says. A Melbourne engineer Ravichandran in Australia, Somasundaram and Prabhakaran in London and Vasudevan in Canada are coordinators of his Musical schools who are Sri Lankan Tamils and Kumar Kanthan, a Keralite is the coordinator in the United States. About 1500 students Mani has learning the percussion instrument, directly and indirectly.

Kaaraikudi Mani is not like any other musician. He stands out from the rest of them all. His humility, down-to-earthness, dedication, discipline and honesty are what set him apart as a shining sun in this constellation of lesser stars.

A percussionist, highly disciplined, he is perfectionist to the core and a puritan and—that is in short he. His long black hair tied in a tuft at the back of his neck, and dark free flowing beard and rolled mush adds to his personality. How he came sporting it, he has an interesting logical story to tell.

Kaaraikkudi Mani, a veteran of sixty years in the field of Carnatic music is not only just a great performer, but a dedicated teacher too. With a zest and passion rarely found elsewhere, he has created a veritable generation of musicians and artists to sustain his style into the next millennium.

Most of the time Mani is on tour, either giving performance in many countries or handling classes in four music schools he is running—at London, Australia, Canada and United Sates.

Kaaraikkudi Mani is the pioneer in bringing Mridangam to the centre stage. He also gave a new dimension when he fusioned Mridangam with other traditional instruments such as Thavil and Chendai. He has presented many Lec-Dem programmes all over the world. Students and enthusiasts have greatly benefited from these.

Guru Kaaraikkudi Mani was born on September 11, 1945 at Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. He is the son of the late T.Ramanatha Iyer and Smt. Pattammal. He stepped into Carnatic Music at the tender age of 3. Although he commenced with Vocal training, very soon he realized his special interest was in percussion and switched over to Mridangam.

His Gurus were Kaaraikudi Sri Rangu Iyengar, Sri T R Hari Hara Sharma and Sri K M Vaidyanathan .He made his debut when he was 8 years old at Karaikudi. Thereafter his dedication and hard work to excel in the chosen field resulted in the Karakudi Mani Bhani (Style), which won the hearts of many young percussionists and others all over the World.

He was well known as "Master Mani" down south wherein he has shared stage and performed with many local artists and won many rewards and gold medals. Later when his disciples and followers enlarged, he came to be called Guru Kaaraikudi Mani.

As a teenage musician he performed with some of the finest in the Carnatic industry. Mani progressed quickly from strength to strength and became a highly sought after Mridangist. Mani has performed with vocalists such as Ariyakudi Ramannuja Iyer, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, D K Pattammal, M Subbulakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari, D K Jayaraman, Maharajapuram Santhanam, Oletdti Venkateswaralu, Dr. Balamuralikkrishna and others.

For instrumentalists such as Flute Mali, Veena S Balachandar, Vena Chittibabu, Lalgudi Jayaraman, M S Gopalakrishnan and T N Krishnan and others Mani has played on stage.
In 1989 , Sruthi Laya Seva School was started in a small room in Rangarajapuram, Chennai with 5 minutes ‘thani avarthanam’ by Guru Sri Surajananda's Mridanga Naadam. Guru Surajananda, an yogi and sage, came to him in fact to learn Mridangam; it became a guru-sishya relationship. With his Guruji's blessings Kaaraikudi Mani now has schools at Chennai, Bangalore, Australia, London, USA, and Canada.

Mani has launched a Gurukulam called "Seasun Gurukulam" off East Coast road near the seashore at Panayur near Chennai. The Seasun school is situated near the seashore environment. The gurukulam consist of guestrooms, classroom, common kitchen and music library for learners. The intensity of the program normally consists of weekend study, daily classes, and field exercises. Several short trips are made during the year in connection with courses.

Stay, Study and Shine is the motto behind the gurukulam. Mani's mission on teaching doesn’t stop with gurukulam. He is teaching the intricacies of laya and laya oriented subject for the students at the University of Madras from Jan 1, 2008 for a year as a Professor Emeritus.
Mani on awards and honours.

Mani proclaims one of his greatest accolades to be the instance when Sri Palghat Mani Iyer praised him in a public concert. His flawless clarity and supreme sound quality appealed to audiences, musicians and students, both in India and world wide.

Master Mani even as a teenager was making a mark in the Carnatic world through his natural born flair and devotion to music. He received his first national award from the then President of India, Dr Radhakrishnan at the tender age of 18.

Honours and awards giving sabhas and agencies soon lined up to invite him for titles and honours. Mani watched the trading involved in such offers, developed an aversion for it, and said no for them. For the next 4 decades, he declined the scores of prestigious awards that were offered to him, until in 1999 when he accepted the national award from Sangeeth Natak Academy . This was presented by the President of India at the time, Mr R.K Narayan.

He has students from all corners of the world. Many of them have become full-fledged musicians. He has the inherent ability to assess a student's capability and tailor his teachings in a way so as to amplify their potential. A tribute to Mani's dedication and affection to his students was demonstrated by a unique felicitation to the Maestro.

On the June 12, 2003, the overflowing hall of Narada Gana Sabha honoured Mani with thunderous applause as he received a luxury car presented by his students to mark his golden jubilee (50 years of service - Fifty Fest) as a musician. Yet another landmark moment as Mani became possibly the first musician to receive such a tribute from his students.

This music season, bound by affection Mani has to accept an honour from his aged friend Sabha Secretary Rajagopal of Karthick Fine arts a title “Tamil Esai Vendar” (Tamil Music King) on December 26.

Elevated mridangam to centre stage

Mani's inherent desire to propagate the highly sophisticated structure of South Indian Rhythm and present innovative rhythmic ideologies led him to set up the Sruthi Laya percussion ensemble. This was supported by a large orchestra. He gave importance to taalavadya concerts and released CDs namely Sruthi Laya Vol 1 and 2, Laya Chitra, Laya Priya, Pushkaram, Melodessey etc.

With these unique ensembles, the talavadya instruments and thani avartanam concerts gained respect and elevated Mridangam to a different league. This awareness gave a thrust to many contemporary artists to bring out audio and CD albums.

This venture was well received by Carnatic fans and critics. Such talavadya cutcheri's (percussion ensembles) have contributed significantly in raising the profile of Indian percussion both in India and worldwide. His aptitude as a composer as well as a music director was coming to the forefront.

Mani had a feeling that his influence had not reached one aspect of the South Indian classical music field-- the dance field. However, recently he has extended the rhythmic repertoire in the classical dance industry. Along with renowned Bharathanatyam dancer Smt Rajeshwari Sainath, who is Mani’s niece and student. He has introduced new concepts (rare varnams, innovative jathi's rare thalams) in the dance field. Performed by Smt Rajeshwari Sainath, Guru has produced dance programmes that combine melody, rhythm and dance like never before.

Many would have thought it unlikely that such a pious Carnatic classicist would move into fusion music. However, his approach to fusion is methodical and produced after much research, planning together with innovative ingenuity. He believes that fusion is not just the coming together of musical instruments but the fusing of musical systems done by musicians who have sufficient expertise to produce music that is inseparable. A notable aspect of Mani's fusion is the technical perfection that is maintained with the fusion adhering to the rules of classical music at all times.

Kaaraikkudi Mani has performed with many international artists like Paul Grabowsky of Australian Art Orchestra, Eero Haemmeneimi of Finland Naada group, Elio Marchesini La Scala percussionist and Livio Magnini of italy, Paul Simon of USA and with Finland Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Australian Art Orchestra has adapted his Bahudari and Ranjani compositions into Jazz syle and released it as "Into The Fire". The Naada group of Finland has converted the Behag composition into Jazz orchestrization and released it as “Unmatched”. It is his greatness as a percussion maestro that made Eero Haemmeneimi dedicates 4 compositions in Mani's name.

Kaaraikkudi Mani's latest venture titled, "Amrutham - Fusion for Freedom" is an imaginative, novel effort that has captured many fans. Apart from that, he has also collaborated with Japanese musician John Kaizan Neptune to create an album named "Steps in Time". In this album, Mani has created a unique synthesis of shakuhachi and Indian percussion.

Veteran Lankan Tamil musician honoured

Sruthi Laya Kendra, Chennai run by Kaaraikkudi Mani, conducting winter music festival dedicated to Guru Surajanandha since 1988 (21 Years). The Guru Surajananda and Gowri Manohari awards with a cash award of Rs.10,000 each are given to eminent personalities and best performers during the festival season. Sruthi Laya Kendra, Secunderabad center has been conducting annual music and dance festival since 1988 (9 Years).

Guru Mani is doing an immense service to aged musicians by handing over each day's gate collection (Nominal entry fee for the concert) to a senior vidwan during the season. In the midst of his busy schedule, Guru Karaikkudi Mani, who conceived of this idea, is busy finding deserving veterans to collect the purse each day.

This year the award and a purse of Rs. 15,000 has been given to a Sri Lankan Tamil musician, 83-year old A S Ramanathan, a Mridanga teacher of Yazpanam Ramanathan Music academy
A composer of considerable acclaim, he has avoved` audiences the world over with the Carnatic and jazz ensembles. To truly take Carnatic Music to masses, he has been single-handedly editing and publishing a bimonthly magazine called “Layamani Layam” for the past 13 years. His unique organizing skill (as exemplified by the many percussion schools he runs world-wide and the annual music festival he conducts at Chennai, India) makes for a really multi-faceted personality.

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- Asian Tribune -