Kerala author’s efforts to popularise mridangam among global audience 

KOCHI: Mridangam gives life to many artistic forms, be it dance or Carnatic renditions. The percussion instrument is more than an accompaniment for classical performances says the book Resounding Mridangam penned by artist Erickavu N Sunil, a Grade A mridangam artist at All India Radio and Doordarshan.

The 45-year-old Haripad native who started learning mridangam at age four, did a comprehensive research for the book for 10 years and published it through Amazon last year. Sunil, who is now settled in Thiruvananthapuram, was an IT professional. He quit his job last year to pursue his interest in mridangam. “I have been performing solo and in groups all these years in between my job. To concentrate more on mridangam, I left the IT profession last June. The book details my insights, knowledge and analytics. It is written in English for a global audience,” Sunil explained.

The book, having eight chapters, has profiles of veteran masters and many unknown artists. Sunil was successful in collecting the data from 97-year-old mridangam maestro Padma Shri T K Murthy.  “The book also profiles a total of 217 great masters across the country. Among them, profiles like Tanjore Narayanaswamy Appa who is considered the father of modern mridangam playing to veteran Padma Shri Dandamudi Sumathi Ram Mohan Rao are included,” added Sunil.

The book gives a general view of music which has terminology that can be understood by western musicians also. According to him, the book has already become part of the syllabus for music students at various universities including the University of Kerala. 

Another highlight of the book is its detailing of the the physics behind the mridangam music instrument which was explored by Nobel laureate CV Raman for one of his experiments with sounds.The book gives a general view of music which has terminology that can be understood by western musicians also. According to him, the book has already become part of the syllabus for music students at various universities including the University of Kerala. 

Another highlight of the book is its detailing of the the physics behind the mridangam music instrument which was explored by Nobel laureate CV Raman for one of his experiments with sounds.