KOCHI: In the verdant foothills of Attappadi, Nanjiyamma is singing on a mic. Artists surround her with their instruments and backup vocals. In between, Nanjiyamma joyfully explains the theme of the song. It’s a love song.
“Some children led their lives in a certain way. Without the knowledge of their mother and father, they fell in love and chose their own way. This song speaks about them... it speaks about their hearts in love. It’s their song,” gushes Nanjiyamma.
The National Award winner is talking about ‘Koothu Kondakkari’, the first music video under the Earthlore project of the Archival and Research Project (ARPO). It features Nanjiyamma’s soul-stirring vocals, and percussion and traditional dance by Azad Kala Sangam, a collective of artists from the Irula tribal community in Attapadi.
Sruthin Lal, co-founder of ARPO, says the project was conceived in 2021. “A major part of the time went into research,” he adds. “Koothu Kondakkari is the first musical project we are releasing with a video.”
The ARPO team, along with musicians Charu Hariharan, Sreekanth Hariharan, and Julian Schoming, conducted several recording sessions with Nanjiyamma and artists in Attappadi.
“We wanted to make sure the artists were comfortable and in their elements,” says Charu. “Asking them to come to a studio will reduce their enthusiasm. So what we did is, we used sync sound, and they performed. We selected the best recording in the studio and added a subtle layer of percussion and strings to it, retaining the song’s original value, without compromising the raw feeling and the joy.”
Koothu Kondakkari was selected from more than 12 songs of the community, Charu adds. “Each of their songs pertains to an occasion. Some are performed in the temple, a few sung by mothers while they feed their child, and others during weddings,” she highlights. “We wanted a track that everyone could connect with, something the artists would be eager to perform. Nanjiyamma and the team picked Koothu Kondakkari.”
Team ARPO is excited about the Earthlore project’s progress. “The next one will be a song by the Katunayaka tribe in Wayanad,” says Sruthin. “We will release it in a couple of months. Only the editing part is left.” He adds that the Katunayaka video required a lot of footwork. “In the case of the Irula community, they have a lead singer like Nanjiyamma and better documentation of their songs,” Sruthin explains.
“With the Kattunayakan community, we had to search for months to find people who knew the songs. We found a few elderly people who knew the songs on the Wayanad-Karnataka border. Most of their songs have faded away. into oblivion.”
With Earthlore, Team ARPO aims to preserve and popularise unexplored aspects of Kerala’s culture, forgotten communities, and their art forms. “There is a system in their musical culture. Based on the occasion, the songs follow a particular rhythm and use certain instruments,” says Charu.
“Just like ragas in Carnatic music, there are multiple songs of a similar style. They were kind enough to share songs and stories with us.” The video will be released on ARPO’s YouTube channel on Saturday. Proceeds from the project will be shared with artists, according to the team.