Mattannoor Sankarankutty Marar Biography 
Mattannoor Sankarankutty Marar is an eminent and veteran percussionist who plays the chenda, a traditional Kerala drum. He is associated with many famous temple festivals of Kerala, and is a great name associated with Thrissur Pooram. He also plays Thayambaka, Panchari Melam, and Panchavadyam. He is a recipient of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2012, for his contributions towards Kerala traditional art forms.
Mattannoor Sankarankutty Marar, shortly called M. P. Sankara Marar hails from Kannur, near famous Mattannoor Siva temple, Kerala. He was born to Kutti Krishna Marar and Karthyayani Marasyar. He has two elder sisters, and he was born as the third child to his parents. He was designated to carry on family’s tradition to play Chenda, an art form traditionally performed by male members of Marar community. Before he learnt alphabets of Malayalam, he started learning Chenda when it was played in Mattanoor Siva temple, which was closed to his home. From the age of 5, he started playing chenda for Seeveli of the temple.
At the age of 8, his father taught him Thayambaka. Yet he got drawn towards Chenda. Seeing his interest, Sadanam Ramachandran, his mother’s cousin encouraged him and his parents also grand him permission to learn this art in detail in Gandhi Sadhanam for 4 years. He watched Thrissur Pooram for the first time as a chendamelam artist during his younger days. During his first 8 years in his teens, he was an assistant to Shankara Marar. From there he rose to group leader later.
He even also desired to become a KSRTC driver during his younger days when drivers never stop the bus seeing his chenda. But destiny was something else. Now he is one of the senior artists of Chendamelam in Kerala.
Published: N/A
Updated: November 25, 2017
