Nadan Pattu emerges as crowd favourite

Folk Song (Nadan Pattu) was introduced at the State School Arts Festival over a decade ago. It draws its strength from a raw, rustic charm, and the songs seem as though they were composed by Nature, rising from the heart of the land and carrying within them layers of heritage, ancient wisdom, and history.

These songs, sung amongst indigenous communities, are passed down through generations, and feature the local cultures and stories. They have an inherent appeal, which is perhaps why it attracted much footfall at the school arts festival, even leading to a protest over the lack of adequate space at the Kerala Bank Auditorium on Friday.

There is so much work behind getting these songs, says folk song artiste Reeju Avala, who has about 25 years of experience in the field. “We went to a tribal hamlet in Idukki once and stayed there for seven days,” he said. “The community shared everything with us, including their life stories. But they didn’t give us their songs.”

Folklorist Gireesh Ambra, who was the judge at the competition, said that the right word to be used is heritage, not folklore. “These songs we sing carry heritage,” he said.

“We need to keep collecting songs and preserving them for posterity,” said artiste Jayaram Manchery.

Arya Nanda, a student of SNHSS North Paravur, who was part of the school’s Nadan Pattu team said that such competitions are of great importance.

With traditional instruments such as maram, thudi, chilambu and udukku, students enthralled the crowd. Some of the folk songs performed included, kottum kali pattu, valanattipattu, oothattapattu, among others.

Ramshi Pattuvam, a Kannur-based folk song artiste, said that the songs were sometimes tweaked to make them appealing to a larger audience. “Songs get changed as they are passed on,” he said.