Autobiography of pallavur appu mararison

Pallavur Appu Marar () was an Indian percussionist, widely considered to be a maestro in the Pallavur (Palakkad) style of thayambaka, edakka, sopana sangeetham, melam and panchavadyam.^[1] He was the eldest of the three brothers, the other two being Pallavur Manian Marar and Pallavur Kunhikuttan Marar, who formed the famed Pallavur trio.^[2]

Biography

Appu Marar was born in , at Pallavur, a small hamlet in Palakkad district, in the south Indian state of Kerala, to Shankaran Marar and Ammini.^[4] His father, a nomad, left the young Appu and his mother, when he was one year old, throwing the family into poverty.^[5] Ammini was forced to remarry Subramania Iyer, and had two more sons, Manian and Kunhikuttan, who, years later, completed the Pallavur trio.^[2]

Appu started learning traditional percussion instruments at a very young age and had his arangettam (debut) on chenda, at Pallavur Shiva Temple,