KALAMANDALAM ISWARAN
UNNI
Mizhavu Player
An indispensable part of
temple arts forms of Kerala such as Kudiyattam, Koothu and Nangiar koothu,
Mizhavu has the grandeur in appearance that no other percussion instrument can
boast of. Mizhavu and Koodiyattam
are inseparable, yet Mizhavu has its own sphere of
musical ecstasy when played in a group. Indeed a rare percussion symphony, the
reverberating beat of the Mizhavu is bound to redefine the way you appreciate
the subtlety
of rhythm.
One of the talented exponents of the
instrument Mizhavu is Kalamandalam Iswaran Unni. He learned Mizhavu under Mr. P.K. Narayanan
Nambiar, a master percussionist who is a dean in the clan of ‘Mizhavu’ players and
an authority on the
intricacies of Mizhavu playing. The deft fingers of the genius on the Mizhavu
had enthralled many a Koodiyattam performance.
Iswaran
Unni's rendezvous
with Koodiyattom was quite
incidental.
Even as a child, he was drawn towards percussion. So it was but natural that his
parents wished him to get trained on the 'chenda'.
During
the screening test for admission to Kalamandalam, a center for
Performing Arts and Culture in Trichur, Kerala, Narayanan Nambiar persuaded Unni's parents to
admit him to the Department of Koodiyattom for learning the mizhavu. But his
parents were puzzled because they belonged to the Warrier community. For,
Koodiyattom and mizhavu had been the exclusive preserve of the Chakiyar and
Nambiar communities.
A living monument of the secular outlook of the institution, Iswaran Unni is also
the first non-Nambiar student to get a scholarship for his studies and also the
first non-Nambiar teacher of the mizhavu. He is presently the head of the
mizhavu department at Kalamandalam,
Equipped
with an amazing gift of the gab, Iswaran Unni has become a much sought-after
Koothu exponent in recent times. He had under taken a deep study of a number of
Sanskrit prabhandhas under Unnikrishnan Elayath. Well-versed in all the
percussion instruments of Kerala, including the timila, he was associated with
his guru Narayanan Nambiar in designing 'mizhavil thayambaka'.
In
1989, he was invited by Farely Richmond to the Stonybrook University, New York,
where he had trained 36 graduates and undergraduates for seven months. Today, `Jatayuvadham,'
`Soorpanakhangam' and `Balivadham' are part of the syllabus of the theatre
department of the university, he says.
Kalamandalam
Iswaran Unni was selected for the title of ‘Paanivaadaratnam,' instituted by
the Paimkulam Rama Chakiyar Smaraka Kalapeedhom in the year 2005.
