Palghat Mani Iyer always kept the aesthetic approach of laya in his grip and chose only the straight lines to nourish kirthana, swaram or a pallavi. He packed his rhythmic patterns with emotional content, as satisfying as real music itself. there was nothing routine or impassive in his thaniavarthanams.

The sound of the tekka, the chappu or gumukki on the toppi side was clear, bold and undefiled. The broad articulation of solkattus gave an aura of majesty and power to his laya exposition. His thanis had always been as presentation of a rhythmic landscape unfolding a vista of enchanting and alluring beauty. the way he brought about melodic modulation transformed the accompanying technique into a glowing edifice of creative expression. His prolific laya manodharma was matched in every detail by the dexterity of his fingers. His left hand always knew what the right hand was offering.

The brief taniavarthanams of Palghat Mani Iyer were marked by perpetual mellowness and spatial finesse. The charisma of the sound of Mani Iyer went even before the concert commenced. As was pertinently pointed out by one of the speakers, if Mani Iyer was the accompanist, the hall would be overflowing. His music was based on the streaks of two faculties, creativity and tradition. If anyone today has a doubt that tradition inhibits creativity, Mani Iyer’s thani tape played on that day provided the fitting answer. He never identified percussive support with percussive pressure. In fact Mani Iyer’s mridangam cannot be comprehended by any intellectual effort, but has to be experienced as intuitive expressions of a transcendental artiste with surpassing merit. When Mani Iyer played, the eternal truth of the role of a mridangam in a performance got revealed and such a revelation is exemplified in the rich heritage of Pudukkottai Dakshinamoorthy, Azhaganambi Pillai, Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer and others which Mani Iyer had imbibed in his youthful days. His mridangam maturity was the natural development of strict adherence to that great heritage, always kept in mind. The eternal grandeur of such a heritage could be glimpsed at Mani Iyer’s hands. His accompanying interpretation was fascinating, but carried the profound message of the objective every mridangist should hold in view as to what makes a mridangam player a real mridangist. Once a present day percussive accompanist understands the sookshma of Mani Iyer’s mridangam naadha he would find laya laying bare its vast potentialities for penetrative percussive brilliance. Mani Iyer’s forte was his interpretative skill to clearly bring out the radiance of a composition.

Mani Iyer’s contribution is unique in its excellence. It has claim to be studied in more than one level - creative art meshed with aesthetic sublimity. the mridangam culture of the maestro is refinement and implied single-minded cultivation - cultivation of inner refinement and not superficial polish. The former is laya transcendence and the latter just fulfillment. That is the eternal message of Palghat Mani Iyer to posterity.