Kalamandalam Hyderali
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kalamandalam Hyder Ali | |
|---|---|
 Kalamandalam Hyder Ali
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hyder Ali |
| Genre(s) | Kathakali |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
Kalamandalam, Hyderali was one of the best Kathakali singers of his generation. Hyderali was born in Wadakkanchery. His father, Moidutty, was an exponent of mappilappattu. Wadakkanchery took notice of Hyderali’s musical skill when he won an NES Block competition singing the song “Kalle Kariville”.
At 11 years old, Kalamandalam Hyderali joined the Kerala Kalamandalam and studied music with many of the greats of the time such as Neelakanthan Nambisan and Kalamandalam Gangadharan. His parents struggled to to pay the admission fee. His dreams would have been shattered if it wasn’t for the help of C.P. Antony. Hyderali wrote in hi biography “The people who helped me, a destitute Muslim boy, were a Hindu and a Christian”. He was of course referring to the help he received to study at Kalamandalam from C.P. Antony and when he graduated from Kalamandalam, and was hunting for a job, MKK Nair, the then chairman of FACT school offered him a job in the fine arts wing of the school.
Kalamandalam Hyderali along with Shakaran Embranthiri and Kalamandalam Haridas were responsible for re-inventing Kathakali music and making it popular. Though, the reality is that the transformation of Kathakali music was really done by Kalamandalam Haridas and Kalamandalam Hyderali, the sad truth is that Shankaran Embranthiri is the one that was the most popular music of the trio. When in truth it was almost single handedly Haridas along with Hyderali were the real architects of the transformation, sadly it was Shankaran Embranthiri the one that got the credit for work he didn’t do.
Hyderali was blessed with a voice that could handle any type of Kathakali music. He was able to capture the fierceness of Duriyodhana at the same time as also sing with great depth the padams of Kuchella. His masterpiece was Ajitha Hare. Though for Hyderali, “Karnasapadam” had a special meaning to him. Perhaps it was the fact that he could empathize with Karna. Being a Muslim, he struggled with the rigid social structures and traditions of the Kathakali world. In an interview Hyderali, ever modest, said “I was neither a caste Hindu nor good-looking. Imagine my plight!”.
Kalamandalam Hyderali had the wish to see Krishna and sang with the prayer that he would one day be granted the vision of Krishna.
Sadly, Kalamandalam Hyderali’s true potential was never given a chance to shine, as he died in a road accident near Thrissur on 5th January 2006.
