How indigenous artistes from Kerala have everyone grooving to their music

When Sruthin Lal and his team visited the tribal hamlets of Wayanad in February to document the music of the indigenous Kattunayakar community, many villagers didn’t cooperate with them. A subsequent visit to record the songs of the Irular community in Attappady also faced a similar problem. The indigenous people said their music is ‘ritualistic’ and ‘divine’ and it could not be revealed to outsiders. But Sruthin and his team from the Archival and Research Project (ARPO) didn’t give up and revisited the place after a month with some people who knew the members in the community. The idea clicked.

The team stayed at the tribal hamlets for a couple of weeks and recorded their songs. They even documented the ancient musical instruments that both the communities have been using for generations.

On May 29, the ARPO organised Earthlore, a public concert at the Bolgatty Palace and Island Resort in Kochi, that brought together indigenous artistes of Kerala’s tribal hamlets and young national and international musicians for a musical ensemble. At least 35 artistes from the Kattunayakar and Irular indigenous communities joined multi-percussionist Charu Hariharan, playback singer Sreekanth Hariharan and folk singer Majeesh Karayad in a first-of-its-kind public concert. The event attained significance for its unusual attempt to showcase Kerala’s folk music to a larger global audience.

Under Earthlore, indigenous songs were recorded and made into music tracks and videos appealing to a global audience. The songs and instruments of these artistes have also been digitally archived in video and audio formats.

A journey to Kochi proved inspiring for the indigenous people belonging to both the communities. A group of 17 Kattunayakar artistes from Wayanad and another group of 15 artists belonging to the Irula community from Attappady reached Kochi with their traditional musical instruments. Even though many had travelled to towns earlier, it was for the first time they were going to share a stage with musicians from outside. While the team of Kattunayakar artistes was led by folksinger M Raghu and Ramesh JB, the Irula group was led by Nanjiyamma, a folk singer who became popular after her title song ‘Kalakkatha’ in the famous Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2020).

The initial fear disappeared when they started singing together, using their own musical instruments. “We have been doing various district-level programmes as part of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (KIRTADS) since 2015. But this public concert was special and inspiring. It gave us a clear idea about the extent we could go to. It was an eye-opener for many artists who participated in the concert,” said Raghu M, a folk singer who belongs to the Kattunayakar community of Begur in Thirunelli.

Beyond all such realisation, it was the feeling of equality that touched him more than other things. “They treated us like the ones among them. We enjoyed a great touch of togetherness,” he added.

The forest and its people

The word ‘Kattunayakan’ literally means the ‘lord of the forests’. The tribe is also known as Jenu Kurumbar and Then Kurumbar. They are one of the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The dialect they speak is similar to Kannada. Gajje, Jodumara, Dampatta are some of their traditional musical instruments. They are mostly found in the Thirunelli region of Wayanad and the border areas of the district with Karnataka.

In Kerala, the Irular community is concentrated in the Attappady region of Palakkad district. They speak Irula Bhasha, which has more affinity with Tamil than Malayalam. They are one of the five PVTGs in Tamil Nadu. The Irular were hunters, gatherers and shifting cultivators but today they have become experts in settled agriculture. They have a treasure trove of songs and dances which speak about their forest, cultivation and emotions. Parai, Dhavil and Kuzhal are some of the traditional musical instruments that they use.

The indigenous people across the world have been victims to various kinds of exploitations. As a result, they look at those who approach them from outside with suspicion. The members in the ARPO also experienced the same treatment from them. The challenge, however, was to convince them. Although the members in the ARPO had no problem coordinating with the people belonging to the Irular community after they contacted Nachiyamma, the folk singer who helped coordinate the documentation process, it was not the same with the Kattunayakar community.

“We knew they [Kattunayakar] had a great musical tradition. But when we looked for them, we could not find one. There were only bits and pieces. A constant search helped us find that a vibrant tradition of music existed around the Kodagu-Kerala border. We soon moved to those areas,” said Sruthin Lal, secretary, ARPO.

The team, however, needed translators as the language the Kattunayakars speak was similar to Kannada. With the help of Raghu and Majeesh Karayad, the team managed the task.

A ‘Thirandukalyanam’, a ceremony to celebrate menarche, at a Kattunayakar family in Thirunelli also made the ARPO team’s work easier.  “Since musicians and percussionists from the community were also present at the ceremony, it turned out to be a golden opportunity for us. We were also new to the instruments that they used. We recorded some songs and returned,” Sruthin said, adding that they decided to engage professional musicians to tap the indigenous talent and that’s how Charu and Sreekanth joined the team. “With them, we revisited the place with more advanced devices to document the music as well as the traditional musical instruments.”

But still there were some issues regarding the availability of traditional musical instruments of the community.

Jodimara, a traditional drum of the Kattunayakar, is made of deer’s skin. Today, no one makes this instrument because killing a deer is a serious offence punishable under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. So, they replaced Jodimara with a normal drum.

However, the members of the ARPO were not ready to compromise. They found another solution. “There was a drum-maker in Attappady, who specialised in making traditional drums using the skin of animals such as buffalo, goat and cow. We asked him to make Jodimara and send it to Wayanad. It worked out well and the drummers who played it said it was up to the standard,” said Sruthin.

The aim of the ARPO, a not-for-profit organisation, was to facilitate a wider audience to the indigenous artistes, both within and outside the state, and create an international appeal for their music. It also wanted to document (digitally) the folk songs and instruments of the participating artists. “The idea was to promote Kerala’s indigenous culture and locations where such communities reside. We are expecting a global-to-cultural collaboration through this experiment,” said Sruthin.

But how do such exercises help the indigenous communities?

“When we visited and interacted with these communities we felt the need to create new and innovative models to create revenue for them from their own musical heritage and talent. We will definitely work towards this,” he said.

The first edition of the ARPO’s public concert evoked great response. At least 250 people from various walks of life participated in the event, which witnessed a fusion of the traditional Kattunayakar and Irular music. “I have been to many programmes performed by people from various indigenous communities. But this was the first time I saw a fusion in a perfect sense, keeping the essence of Kattunayakar and Irular music intact,” said K Murali, a music enthusiast.

A music video in the name of folk singer Nanjiyamma was also released as part of the event. “We have given them the exposure. Now, we need to work on copyright and other remuneration for these artistes. We don’t want them to end up as victims of exploitation, particularly by people from the film industry,” said Sruthin.