Any discussion on Kochi’s music history usually throws up Vathakad Raghava Menon’s (VRM) name. Yet that name often draws a blank except for sketchy details of his life and that he was an excellent music teacher with a raging temper.
Research on Menon reveals that this prodigious musical talent, reinforced by hard work, wedded to a compelling musical vision, honed and nurtured through association with some of the great musicians of the time. But the harsh truth is that this talent went largely unrecognised.
Born in 1911, Menon, who was fondly called Appu, lost his parents early and grew up in the care of his aunt. He joined Annamalai University where he was trained by doyens like Sabesa Iyer and Ponnaiah Pillai. Menon took his diploma in Carnatic music completing the course with top grades.
Menon’s singing skills, his astute structuring of concerts and wide repertoire found wide appreciation. His kutcheris were broadcast by All India Radio, Trichy. Back home, one of his patrons was VKR Menon, son of Kerala Varma VI, famously known as Midukkan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin.
“It would not be wrong to say that for some time Menon was a permanent resident at the Hill Palace. The Maharaja’s wife Lakshmikutty Neithiyaramma was also an admirer of Menon’s musical skills. That was perhaps the best phase in Menon’s life,” says KV Prathapan, one of Menon’s faithful disciples, who retired as Lecturer in Violin from RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura.
In a sort of preface titled ‘A Remembrance in History of Medieval Kerala’, AMN Chakyar, former Registrar of Kerala University, writes that Radha Lakshmi Vilasam (RLV) Academy of Music in Tripunithura, was started to patronise Menon. “It was at RLV Academy that Menon began his teaching career. And it was here that he met Thankam, a student of Bharatanatyam whom he later married.
When life went haywire
Meanwhile, VKR Menon, who was Director of Civil Supplies of the Cochin State, died in a Deccan Airways air crash in 1952. And Menon’s life went haywire.
“My guru had a volatile temperament, his tragic flaw, which ruined the harmony of his life and career in music. He got into a tiff with the Academy officials, resigned in a huff. It was the beginning of some very hard times for him,” remembers Prathapan.
Nothing really worked out for Menon after that. His attempts to find a job in the RLV College of Music and at the music college in Palakkad proved unsuccessful though the expert committee found him ‘brilliant.’ Menon rented a house in Tripunithura and began teaching music.
“Along with a couple of others we used to take a boat, reach Ernakulam, take a bus to Tripunithura once a week. Then for a couple of hours he, Menon Sir, used to teach us. He was an excellent teacher, very patient and that infamous temper was absent when he taught music. I heard some of his concerts that were broadcast by AIR, Trichy and they were unbelievably good. Once, I think it was at AIR Thrissur, he was allotted 45 minutes for a kutcheri. He rendered a Sankarabharanam alapana that was amazing,” recounts noted music director MK Arjunan.
Among Menon’s disciples were noted singers like TK Govinda Rao, Vimala Varma, Vijayarajan Master and many more. “I studied with Menon Sir for around four years between 1948 and 1952. I don’t think I have seen anyone like him in Kerala before and after him. He started the Kerala College of Fine Arts at Ernakulam but all my classes were at Tripunithura. But his volatile temperament was as notorious as his genius. A trivial incident strained my relationship with him. But that lasted only for some time, Menon Sir was always like that. By then I had started studying with Sivaraman Nair,” recalls Vijayarajan Master.
For Menon life was an incessant struggle. He tried his hand at various things like a provision store, sold vegetables, tried selling paint and even started a drama troupe. But all these flopped leaving him indigent. “For some time he worked as Special Officer at the Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple. During this time he used his clout to have AIR, Trichy, broadcast ‘live’ the concerts at the temple festival. He also published a magazine that ran into rough weather and had to be stopped. He moved to a cramped room near Valanjambalam with his family ,” adds Prathapan.
Teaching Economics
In what must be seen as a desperate attempt, Menon started a tutorial centre at Club Road, Ernakulam, where he taught Economics, Political Science and English. “This was a huge success. One wonders how he, a trained musician and teacher, managed to teach all these subjects. But that’s the stuff that a genius is made of. In fact, I have heard that he was once invited by the Physics Department at Maharaja’s College for a lecture and he left them stunned with a lec-dem on C.V. Raman’s studies on Acoustics,” says Prathapan.
But for those who had the good fortune of listening to his concerts, Menon will forever remain an unrivalled singer. He did not believe in major and minor ragas. To prove that Menon once rendered Saranga for two hours exploring every aspect of that raga. “Kamboji was his masterpiece and I have heard some connoisseurs comment after one of his renderings that they will not hear a better Kamboji. His stamp of individuality was evident even on stage. Once at Ernakulam he chastised the violinist who was going overboard with his gimmicks saying ‘Okay! you can play solo I’m leaving.’ And I have heard others talk of a kutcheri at Pazhayannur where my guru matched the genius of legends like Palghat Mani Iyer and Rajamanickam Pillai who accompanied him,” says Prathapan.
Menon was a member of the Indian National Congress before Independence and the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham in his later life. The only recognition that came Menon’s way was the veera sringala bestowed on him by Kunjikidavu Thampuran on behalf of the Cochin Royal Family. Menon died in 1973.
Published - February 25, 2017 04:51 pm IST
