Mulayamkavu
Every river has a rhythm. River Nila has the uniqueness of having influenced the percussion based music culture of Kerala. The now popular percussions like Chenda, Thimila, Idakka, Madhalam, Kombu, Kuzhal, Illathaalam, have gained its existing playing style from various schools set on the banks of the river.
Today we had taken a group of American friends to get a feel of the music of the place. The idea was to introduce them to the river culture, its influence on our music and how the above instruments form various symphonies like ‘Pancha Vaadyam, Thaayambaka, Panchaari Melam, Paandimelam'.
This was a rare opportunity for them to see all the musical instruments from Kerala in one place. Hari Govindan explained how they practice throughout the day and how they master the skills. By the end of the day they were treated to a symphony of all these musical instruments played together.
From wind, string to percussion the notes varied.
And as one of our previous guests wrote, "the experience indelible..."
How many youngsters, today, have had the opportunity to enjoy such traditional orchestras in the beautiful nattinpuram setting? Who can forget the pulluvan/pulluvothi who roamed the desam with their unique music label.......
ReplyDeleteyes we will not forget the pulluvan/pulluvathi who roamed the desam. But that memory will help them in no way to feed their children and sustainablity of the art form.
ReplyDeletejeyadevan
A beautiful memory nevertheless! But if there were no people to appretiate their music would that have sustained their art ? For anyone to survive they have to move with the times & that includes a lot of things to be done........
ReplyDelete