KOCHI: At the age of four, Anandha Krishnan S B decided he wanted to be a chenda artist. This was 16 years ago. His father and younger brother used to visit the Kanankakunnu every year to watch the Onam celebrations. “I used to go along with them. However, for me, it was the thayambaka which had a powerful hold on me. I was drawn to its magnetic performance,” said the 20-year-old.
“It has been twelve years now and I am so glad I was able to perform at the same place I first saw this art form. My joy knew no bounds,” said Anandha Krishnan, who also recently performed at the Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan. He began learning the chenda at the age of seven. “Till then, I had been learning classical music under Sandhya Ashoka madam. After expressing my interest for learning the chenda, my father enrolled me and my younger brother Aravind under Kalamandalam Krishnadas on a vidyarambam day at Margi,” he said. He remembers how he used to convert gas cylinders and other equipment as substitutes for the chenda.
After they mastered the chenda, both the brothers performed their arangettam at the age of eight and 10 respectively. “Soon after the arangettam, we got the opportunity to perform thayambaka at a family gathering. From then on, there was no looking back and we kept on receiving opportunities to perform across the country,” said Anandha Krishnan. The siblings have performed thayambaka in over 250 venues all over India.
The siblings performed their first fusion with Lalitha Nandhini sisters at Nishagandhi. “We met Lalitha madam at the national camp organised for children receiving a scholarship from Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) in Chennai. When she arrived at Nishagandi, she asked us to perform chenda with her. We received the opportunity to play the instrument with a lot other foreign artists,” said Anandha Krishnan.
Anandha Krishnan takes pride in having shared a stage with Carnatic vocalist Sreeranjini Kodampally and percussionist Mattannoor Sankarankutty during an Onam festival at Kanakakunnu. He says it was an encouragement he received at the age of 12 years at Palakkad that inspired him to continue with the art. “Soon after I performed the thayambaka with Krishnadas sir at the age of 12 at Palakkad, people flocked to us to tell us how they appreciated our performance,” he said.
So, do they practice everyday? “Even if we are not able to go for practice at Margi or Krishnadas’s sir’s house, we practice chenda for at least one-and-a-half hours at our house every day,” said Aravind Krishnan S B, who has always associated the chenda with Thayambaka. “There is no other chenda performance that can be equalled to the thayambaka, where talent of the artist and the instrument creates such magic,” he said.Anandha Krishnan hopes to take the art to more audience.