N. Pattabi Raman

Dr. N. Pattabhi Raman, or Sruti Pattabhi Raman as he was better known, was snatched away from our midst on 23 December 2002. He was admitted to Apollo Hospital after an attack of cerebral malaria on 11 November. It was a 42-day long grim battle for survival, but Death finally claimed him and Pattabhi Raman left his mortar coils in the early hours of 23 December in Chennai. He was 70.

His sudden aemise has created a void which cannot be filled, but he has left his imprint in print on the. sands of time. He has made an indelible mark on arts journafism and the documentation of the Indian performing arts.

N. Pattabhi Raman was founder-editor of Sruti, the prestigious Englsh language monthly devoted exclusively to Indian music and dance. He was one of the pioneers who started the documentation of Carnatic music and musicians, dancers and dance guru-s in a detailed, objective ancf interesting way in the pages of Sruti, which he launched in 1983.

The sudden demise of the percussion maestro Pallavoor Appu Marar at the age of 75, on 8 December, marked the end of an epoch in the history of the Kerala percussion arts tradition. He was a legendary chenda and edakka artist of our times and the last of the celebrated Pallavoor percussion trinity, as he and his brothers were known.

His younger brothers, who were also his disciples—Pallavoor Kunhikuttan Marar and Pallavoor Manian Marar passed away on 24 August 2002 and 20 June 2001 respectively. With the demise of Appu Marar, the famous percussion trinity has now become a part of history. One can say that Appu Marar was the greatest of them all.