Kuroor Vasudevan Namboothiri

Kuroor Vasudvan Namboothiri, one of the exponents in Kathakali percussion, was born
in 1948 at Kottayam, a small town in Kerala, to Kuroor Vasudevan Namboothiri (senior) and
Parvathy Antharjanam. His father was an eminent actor, who had performed aggressive
characters on the Kathakali stages for more than eighty years. Under the patronage of his father,
young Vasudevan Namboothiri started to learn chenda, the percussion instrument used for the
art-forms like thayampaka and kathakali, from the stalwart of kathakali percussion, Guru
Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval. After completing the basic lessons, Guru Krishnankutty
Poduval assigned Guru Ayamkudi Kuttappamarar to teach Vasudevan Namboothiri. Guru
Ayamkudi, who followed a strict instruction method, trained Vasudevan Namboothiri in both
thayampaka and kathakali percussion for five years, by residing at the latter’s house. Vasudevan
Namboothiri made his debut performance in thayampaka at Kumaranalloor Devi Temple in the
year 1961. Thus he began his career as a percussion artist.

After the debut, Vasudevan Namboothiri started to play chenda for thayampaka and
kathakali performances. He got opportunity to play chenda for esteemed kathakali artists like
Padmasri Guru Chengannur Raman Pillai, Padmasri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Padmasri
Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair, Guru Pallippuram Gopalan Nair, Padmabhushan Kalamandalam
Ramankutty Nair, Padmabhushan Madavoor Vasudevan Nair and Padmasri Kalamandalam
Gopi. Even from the beginning of his career, he decided to upskill and joined Kerala
Kalamandalam, the renowned institution for classical arts, in 1972, for a one year course, being
induced and encouraged by Guru Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair. There he was trained in the
performance classes of Ramankutty Nair, by Guru Pallassana Chandra Mannadiyar and
Kalamandalam Achunni Poduval, the prominent percussionists in kathakali and the then
instructors at Kerala Kalamandalam.

Subsequently Vasudevan Namboothiri became a notable artist and he got more chances
to perform on kathakali stages with his own Guru Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval.
During this period, he had participated with the legendary artists of that time and attained more
knowledge about the subtle methods of kathakali percussion from Guru Krishnankutty Poduval.
Along with fellow artists he conducted kathakali training workshops every year at Kudamaloor
Kalakendram, where he joined as a teacher, after finishing his studies. These experiences
groomed him in to a successful percussionist.

Now Kuroor Vasudevan Namboothiri is one of the most senior artists in his field. He has
developed his own playing techniques, which are suitable for making the kathakali plays more
theatrical. His playing techniques give more importance to controlling the sounds brought out by
the tumultuous instrument chenda than producing heavy beats and hell for leather noises. He
considers the dramatic effect made by the combination of loud and soft sounds and harmonious
variations between slow and fast tempos. He realizes even the significance of the silence in-
between the incessant flow of sounds. This way of treatment is important for a kathakali
performance, because as a classical dance drama, kathakali actors are committed to attain
perfection of characters through the body movements along with various types of gestures and
vivid emotions. He has made some innovations on the form of instrument chenda also, by
changing the fiber coir, which ties both sides of the drum, to a more comfortable plastic thread.
Now all other chenda artists are following this way of making drums.

Still Vasudevan Namboothiri is sprightly active on kathakali stages all over Kerala. He
has performed many times at various other places in India, including Chennai, Bangaluru,
Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Orissa and Manipur with the prominent artists like
Padmasri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Padmabhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Guru
Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair, Sri Mankompu Sivasankara Pillai and Padmasri Kalamandalam
Gopi as a part of national and international art festivals. He has presented a lot of programmes
for Akashvani and Doordarshan including live telecast of Doordarshan national programme with
Padmasri Kalamandalam Gopi on 12th November 2012. He has visited Poland in 2011 and
performed at ‘Brave festival- Against Cultural Exile’ at the theatres in Warsaw and Szczecin.
The next year he performed at HRH Princes Haya Bint Al Hussein Theatre, Dubai, UAE with
major artists like Sadanam Krishnankutty and Kottakkal Chandrasekhara Varier.

In addition to the artistic activities, he has done a lot for the welfare of kathakali artists
also. Along with fellow artists, he had tried to unite kathakali artists in general and formed a
collective, named Kathakali Artists Organization in 1980s. He was the general secretary of that
organization in early 90s.

Kuroor Vasudevan Namboothiri has won splendid awards and recognitions from different
organizations. Some of them are worth mentioning here. Kerala Kalamandalam honoured him
for lifelong achievements in the field of kathakali percussion in 2003. In addition to it he got
Kerala Kalamandalam Award for kathakali melam in 2005. He has also won Kalasree award of
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in the year 2015.