Coimbatore, January 3
Harihara Sharma was a talented mridangam vidwan those days. Unfortunately a tram shutter damaged his fingers and he had shift to playing morsingh. His large family had to face a tough time and Vikku Vinayakaram was the first of his six kids. Since the family was poor Vikkuji faced a difficult life from the very beginning. However his visionary father would not let things pass. Padma Bhushan and Grammy awardee Vikku Vinayakaram spoke to Simplicity thanks to the initiative of his close friend Dharanendra Momaya of Coimbatore. "I did not have any interest in studies and was quite playful all the time. My father made me begin with the mridangam and he ensured that I got interested. Those were the times when one had to play just one phrase for hours together and at home I used to play the mridangam between 4.00 AM and 6.00 AM non stop or until the lamp in front of the pooja room went off. The mridangam was the main instrument but there there was much competition in that sphere. The one who played it could play other percussion instruments too with ease. Therefore I began with the Ghatam which was an 'upapakkavadyam' then. The instrument was not very popular and we used to paid Rs.1 or Rs.2 per kutcheri and Rs.5 for big kutcheris. Rs.10 was just enough to run a family and my father wanted to shine like the great Ravishankar in the world of music. Ultimately he saw it happen in his life time," stated the humble Vikkuji.
Ghatams used to be handmade and Vikkuji used to get his ghatams from the family of Meenakshiammal of Manamadurai. The ghatam artists had to keep on choosing from a lot in order to get the piece required. Nowadays the manual kiln used for finishing ghatams has been replaced by the electric kiln and this has made it easier for both the manufacturers and their clients to pick up the right ghatam. Ramesh from the same family attends to the process of manufacture and this was a ladies forte. Initially Vikkuji played for ladies only and they included the Sulamangalam Sisters, Radha & Jayalakshmi, M.L. Vasanthakumari, Leela etc., Of course he played for cinema kutcheris and he has played for M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and T.R. Mahalingam. Interestingly the first superstar of Tamil cinema M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar had a special affection for Vikkuji and he used to display the same by picking him up while doing programmes.
The father of Vikkuji, Harihara Sharma wanted him to play along with big musicians. Therefore he approached it by trying to make him play for Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, the stalwart of Carnatic music. It was a time when all the artists used to travel to Chennai for giving performances and aspiring youngsters used to meet up with them at their place of stay in order to get a 'siparisu' or recommendation.Most of them were eager to play for free in order to gain recognition. At least destiny presented the oppourtunity to Vikkuji and he got an oppourtunity to accompany Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar at the Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha. He was accompanied by Palakkad Mani Iyer (mridangam) and T.N. Krishnan (violin). The kutcheri began by 4.15 PM and went on till 9.15 PM. "I waited and waited but nothing happened for I did not get a chance to play for quite a while to do a solo or thani avarthanam. At last I got the chance to do it while the Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi was taking place. The audience responded with a thunderclap and I must say that it was due to my father's effort that it happened," smiled a humble Vikkuji.
Vikkuji became the ambassador for the ghatam and thanks to his performances the instrument became a popular percussion instrument eventually. Thereafter Vikkuji began to play for artists like G.N.Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Madurai Somasundaram, Lalgudi Jayaraman and Veena S. Balachander. The next break came at a time when he got a chance to play for Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer while other accompanying artists were T.N. Krishnan (violin), Umayalpuram Sivaraman (mridangam) for M.S. Subbulakshmi attended the programme. Vikkuji recalls the auspicious moment, "I went to Semmangudi the next day to do mariyadhai with a tambalam containing paakku, vettrilai etc., and it was then that I got into the team of M.S. Subbulakshmi and Sadasivam. I had entered the bastion and over a year I played at a number of places with her. In fact it was my first trip to America. I I can never forget all those experiences ever."
Once again it was Vikkuji's father Harihara Sharma who encouraged him to join the Shakti Group which contained Zakir Hussain and John Maclaughlin. It was a 3 year tenure with them at the USA and Vikkuji was discouraged by a number of people not to undertake it for they feared that will come in the way of his secured position which was prevalent. Ultimalety the motivation given by M.S. Subbulakshmi, Sadasivam, Veena S. Balachander coupled by the persistance of his father won the day. Vikkuji did wonders with the group. Besides all this he has played along with a number of North Indians like Hariprasad Chaurasia, Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Jasraj. Planet Drum was the oppourunity which got him the Grammy award. The concept called 'Planet Drum' was by Mickey Hart and percussion people from around the world were invited to participate in the album. Vikkuji and Zakir Hussain were the ones from India and the album was awarded the prestigious Grammy. Vikkuji was a member of the team and therefore he became a recipient for having played both the ghatam and the morsingh. Back home he was flooded with awards and it included the Padma Bhushan. Vikkuji gave away the share of the royalty recieved from this album to a noble cause connected with a temple for the Mahaperiyaval of Kanchipuram Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal. The great musician is a staunch follower of the Paramacharya and he wears the image of the Sage of Kanchi all the time on his person.
Vikkuji has been a phenomenal success and his efforts have put the ghatam on the global map. The humble percussionist is ever interested in promoting and supporting causes which have been the fountainhead of the Indian civilisation. Its appropriate to hear about the cause dear to him and also about "Samarpan 2018" which is being conducted at the Nani Palkiwala Auditorium on the 6th of January 2018 in aid of the same, "The programme Samarpan is being held in order to support the BYMM Trust. Its a grand Jugalbandhi concert and the fiddling monk Kumaresh (violin), Pravin Godkhindi (flute), Abhijit Banerjee (tabla), V. Selvaganesh (percussions and kanjira), Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) are part of it. The proceeds from this programme will be made over to the Veda Patashala which supports about 30 people learning the Vedas. The money will be used to not only provide Vedic education but food, shelter and clothes to the students. We need to support our Vedas for they they are from India and they form the bedrock of Indian philosophy."
Vikkuji has this 3G and it includes the 3 generations from his family. His son Selvaganesh, grandson Swaminathan Selvaganesh are part of the team alongwith him. The noble and humble Vikkuji wears a shikai and the traditional panchagacham all the time. He is always keen to appreciate and acknowledge every single person whom he comes across. The man who has made the ghatam popular has nurtured a number of ghatam artists over the years.