I was the Secretary of Kerala Kalamandalam from 1978 to 1984. It was a period of nine jewels (nava rathnas) there. Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambeesan (Kathakali vocal music),  Ramankutty Nair and Padmanabhan Nair (Kathakali acting), Krishnankutty Poduval (Kathakali chenda), Appukutty Poduval (Kathakali maddalam), Sathyabhama (Mohiniattam), Painkulam Rama Chakyar (Kutiyattam), Parameswara Marar (panchavadyam), Killimangalam Vasudevan Namboodirippad (Sanskrit scholar) were the nine jewels.
(‘A classy performer’ by P Chithran Nambootirippad, Nartanam vol XVIII, #2, April - June 2018)

While accompanying male characters in Kathakali, with its high-decibel sound, the chenda dominates occasionally and the role of the maddalam is mostly confined to plugging the loopholes left by the chenda player. But, for all the female characters, the maddalam is the principal percussion instrument.
(‘Kalamandalam Hariharan’s wizardry with the maddalam’ by V Kaladharan, The Hindu Friday Review, Nov 2, 2018)



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