Seven-year-old drumming into history

Sreedhev during a solo performance. By Faris Arakkal Drumming on a flat surface, his nimble fingers produced soft sound rhythmically like that of a young percussionist. It was an obvious sign that the boy was born to be a percussionist. So, he was sent to learn music and its nuances. Seven-year-old Sreedhev Sreenivasan is now drumming into history with mridangam. He is the youngest pakkamelam player in the world. Sreedhev achieved this under the guidance of his guru Sri Vikraman Namboothiri, chief instructor of Korambu Mridanga Kalari. "His is gifted with magic fingers," says Sri Vikraman Namboodiri. His performance has the glitter of blending 12 keerthanas of adhithalam, roopathalam, mishrachap, ghandachap and 10 minute-long thaniyavarthanam, which needs enormous efforts. He used to attend online classes besides his daily lessons from Kalari. It has helped him reach this level of performance. His debut performance was at Thiruvambadi Temple Thrissur. Since then, it has been a long journey for him. He performed at various temples in Madurai, Thanjavur, Chidambaram and Mookambika. He participated in Chembai Sangeetholsavam 2010 at Guruvayur. Sreedhev has also performed in Mumbai and Chennai. Recently, a CD of his solo performance has been released by playback singer P Jayachandran in the city. Sreedhev is a 3rd standard student of Don Bosco School Irinjalakkuda. He longs to become a mridangam maestro. His father Sreenivasan is a happy man and satisfied with the performance of the young percussion artiste.