Arakavyuuham, a 10-member percussion band from Kerala Kalamandalam, experiments with traditional and Western instruments

Arakavyuuham is the percussion band formed by post graduate students of Kerala Kalamandalam in Kerala

‘We are cooking some delicious dishes with our instruments,’ reads the Instagram profile of Arakavyuuham, a percussion band formed by students of Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University, Kerala’s premier institution for learning performing arts at Cheruthuruthy in Thrissur district.

The 10-member band comprises students pursuing postgraduate courses at the institution. The USP of the band is blending the beats of traditional percussion instruments such as the chenda, mridangam, thimila, mizhavu and edakka with that of drums, cajon and darbuka.

The musicians have been studying at Kalamandalam from Class VIII, when students are enrolled at the institution. “We have known each other for over a decade now and some of us are in the final year of our courses. We are like family since we have stayed at the hostel all these years,” says Adithya Krishna, founder of the band and a student of the chenda.

The idea to experiment with instruments came from one of their seniors, says Adarsh AG, another band member. “He was a student of chenda and after finishing his course, he used to play other percussion instruments while jamming with musicians at various programmes. That inspired us to try something new,” Adarsh says.

In Arakavyuuham, the focus is on Kathakali Sangeetham, the branch of music integral to Kathakali. “There are umpteen bands who experiment with classical music and popular music. We did not want to do the same and that’s why we decided to take up Kathakali music. We have tried to give a new flavour to this genre by giving it a Western touch,” Adithya explains.

It was not easy to bring about the seamless blend of sounds produced by different instruments. “Some of the instruments are played only in temples or are associated with certain art forms. So bringing them into another space was a challenge in itself. Another challenge was that the surface of the thimila and the mizhavu produce only two sounds and so we had to work around these sound variations while blending it with the beats of other instruments,” Adithya says.

Adarsh adds, “We choose padams (verse) from various attakathas (Kathakali plays) for the shows. While the raga won’t change, it is the rhythm that picks up momentum as the performance progresses.”