Finally, the long wait is over and the festivities have reached a crescendo at Thrissur Thekkinkaadu Maidan. The ground is packed with lovers of Thrissur Pooram. And, for aficionados of Pooram beats, there is a new anthem to listen to besides your favourite panchavaadyam.
The theme song titled Thrissur Pooram Theme Song 2015, released on YouTube hardly a week ago, has already caught the attention of many. The five-minute 45-second music video album, conceptualised by Nirmaldas, is a audio-visual feast which represents the vibrant heritage of Kerala.
“This album not only shows the spirit of Thrissur Pooram but we have also clubbed the traditional art forms and culture of Kerala. Through this album, I wanted to bring Pooram and our Kerala culture to the world map,” says Thrissur-born Nirmaldas, who works in Dubai.
The album is the brainchild of a coterie of Thrissur people under the Pravasi Souhrutha Kootayma. This is the group’s second venture, last year they had come out with a six-minute 10-second music video album which was rendered by Madhu Balakrishnan.
This year, the song which is the confluence of Western and traditional music, is backed by the dynamic rendition of Franco to the beautiful lyrics of Hari Narayanan. The music composed by Ram Surendar.
“Hari Narayanan has narrated the whole story of Thrissur Pooram through simple and poetic lines. Ram Surendar’s music and Franco’s singing altogether has added the right flavour that represents the whole package,” says Nirmaldas who has also intricately weaved in Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and temple musical instruments into the album.
“While composing music, another thing we wanted to focus was to use the six ambalavaadyangal (temple percussion instruments) ‘idakka’, ‘chenda’, ‘madhalam’, ‘kuzhal’, ‘kombu’ and ‘ilathalam’,” says Nirmaldas. “We are thankful for Thrissur Krishnakumar who has blended the traditional instruments retaining all the aesthetics of rhythm and beat with the western instruments like guitar and bass guitar,” he adds. The music video album is produced by K S Saleesh, directed by Joe Gloria, camera done by Sunil Nair and editing is by Syam Kumar.