The Music of Kerala

  The Music of Kerala

Kerala is very rich in its folk song tradition and has many varying folk songs as there are there are variances in the climate, land, people and their occupations.

The nadanpattu (nadan-native, pattu-songs) of Kerala or Kerala folk songs narrate unrecorded tales of the land and people. These lyrical songs are evoked from the emotions and simple wisdom of agrestic folk. The toiling group of boatmen, peasants and farmers forgets the monotony of their humdrum life by humming these melodious songs..........

Almost every aspect of life and occasions such as childbirth marriage, festivals, the glee of the harvest season, weddings, war, the union of man and woman, mythology and religion and death finds a place in Kerala folksongs. We acquire a better comprehension of Kerala folk and their culture just by listening to the musical folksongs. Mappilapattukal, Pallipattukal, Onapattukal, Mappilapattu, Vilppattu and Vanchipattukal, are some of these native songs of different castes and communities of Kerala. There is a rich collection of Malayalese traditional and folk songs which are sung during the great festival of Onam and these songs are called Onappaattu.

Among other folk songs, the most remarkable are the Northern Ballads (vatakkan paattukal) which gives a detailed description of the valiant feats of the heroes of North Malabar. Also noteworthy are the Southern Ballads (tekkan paattukal).

The early music of Kerala, with natya line at its helm, finds an eloquent expression in the contents of the chapter called arangettru-kkadai of Chilappathikaram, one of the five great epics of the ancient Dravida literature, for which an exhaustive commentary has been supplied by Adivarkku-Nallar, its leading commentator. This music had its hey day during the dominance of jainism and buddhism in south India, a few centuries before and after Christ. It is said to be the mirror of the music culture of the above sects, famous for their artistic achievements and organizations. As centuries moved on, these two religious systems were overpowered by Hinduism which came as a storm to uproot them. Yet, it took a few centuries for Hinduism to establish its supremacy. Though religion changed music and other arts they were not very much affected during these years except for the fact that from then onwards, the spiritual line became more prominent.

 

Starting as a powerful spiritual force during the early fifth century, Hinduism became a peaceful and pious discipline from the seventh century onwards. In its transformation the dedicated services of nayanars, the religious bards of saivism and aalwars, the religious bards of vaishnavism had significant roles. They preached their respective faiths through innumerable spiritual songs called thevaram, thiruvachakam etc., composed by saivites and tiruvaymozhi, composed by the vaishnavites under the tender care and kind patronage of the Cola, Cera and Pandya kings who were famous not only as patrons and masters of arts, but also as followers of the above two cults. Kulasekhara, said to be a ruler of Kerala during ninth century, was himself a great devotee of Vishnu and kala-sarva bhauma who is said to be the builder of many temples in Kerala with solid and scientific scheme of construction. The king planned and developed various ceremonies and festivals of the temples, and improved and strengthened the various institutions of the temple artists and their whole-time participation in daily rituals and festive occasions. The credit of building the koothambalams under strong and architectural principles also is said to be the brain child of this great king. A few Sanskrit plays like Tapati Samvaranam etc., to be staged at these theaters by the traditional artists called chakkiyars and nangiars have been attributed to him. There were also exchange of temple musicians, actors and dancers between Kerala and Tamil Nadu during this period.