KOCHI: A top-ranking mridangam player in South India, Kalaimamani K V Prasad is an all-rounder. A versatile artist, he plays not only mridangam but also congo drums, western drums, tabla and chenda. His style is soft and direct, a magical rhythm to listeners’ ears.K V Prasad has received many awards, including the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy State Award for 2010. “I started learning mridangam as a child under the Late Ernakulam Narayana Iyer. Later, I took lessons from Parassala Ravi for 15 years and advanced training from Sangeetha Kala Nidhi T K Murthy,” recollects Prasad. A science graduate from Sacred Hearts College, he nurtured his love for music even as a student and was a sought after artist even during his college days. A regular winner at school youth festivals and university fests, Prasad was one of the notable contestants at that time. He represented India in the 1978 World Youth Festival held at Havana, Cuba, where he played western drums, mridangam, tabla and also chenda. “It was a great honour to accompany Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi, that too for 15 years,” Prasad recollects with pride. “It was an unforgettable moment in my life when Amma (M S Subbulakshmi) sang for my wedding,” says Prasad who has accompanied many well-known artists like Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer, D K Jayaraman, Yesudas, Palghat K N Narayanaswamy, Volti Venkateswaralu, T Brinda Muktha, Nedanuri Krishanmurthy, T Viswanathan, S Balachander, Chittibabu, D K Pattamal, M L Vasanthakumari, Dr Balamuralikrishna, Lalgudi G Jayaraman, T N Krishnan, M S Gopalakrishnan, N Ramani, Madurai T N Sheshagopalan, mandolin U Srinivas, Chitra Veena Ravi Kiran, Kadri Gopalnath and many other eminent artists.He had the privilege to represent India at the festival of India in Moscow with Subbulakshmi in 1987. Prasad has accompanied Zakir Hussain, G Harishanker and T H Vinayakaram in Holland, Hungary, Germany and Switzerland. Prasad has toured countries like USA, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the Gulf countries. “My father was a great influence in my life. His dream was to make me a mridangam player,” says Prasad who is living his father’s dream. Prasad has played the mridangam for Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies as well.He has been part of famous Malayalam movies like ‘His Highness Abdulla,’ ‘Bharatham,’ ‘Kamaladalam,’ ‘Kudumbasametham,’ ‘Manichitrathazu,’ ‘Sopanam’ and ‘Devasuram’. His songs were a huge hit in the 90s. In fact, Prasad has worked in more than 500 films in various South Indian languages and with almost all leading music directors like Johnson, Vidyasagar, Illayaraja, Raveendran master and many more. He was awarded the Kalaimamani title in 2000. An artist who played for many different music troupes, including ‘Stone Age’, with composer T S Radhakrishnan, Prasad has developed a style of his own. “My greatest influences are Ernakulam Narayana Iyer, Parasala Ravi and T K Murthy,” he says.Prasad has also acted in a movie, ‘Oru Naal Oru Kanavu’, directed by Fazil with whom he has done many movies.“I thank my family for supporting me throughout my career,” he says with gratitude. His wife Usha Prasad has a doctorate in music from Madras University and son Krishna Kishore is a percussion artist and also a member of a Chennai-based Carnatic fusion band ‘ZINX’. His daughter Kripa Lakshmi is also into dance and music.
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