On a November evening, at Nisarga Art Hub in Angamaly, Kerala, as a bunch of indigenous musicians from Wayanad and Coorg sang of the forest, of people’s struggles, in their native tongue, the audience joined in, clapping hands and tapping feet. That day, the newly formed Earthlore band made their stage debut.
The band comprises 12 members from the Jenu Kuruba tribe, six from the Paniya tribe and one from the Kurichiya tribe, of Kerala’s Wayanad and Karnataka’s Coorg regions. A part of the not-for-profit Archival and Research Project’s (Arpo) flagship programme, Earthlore the band is the result of a year-long fellowship. Funded by Tata Trusts, the fellowship was announced last year, to form and professionally train a collective of indigenous musicians.
Of over 70 applications, 18 young musicians were selected by a panel which included members from tribal communities. “We work closely with marginalised and underrepresented artists to keep regional artforms alive, protect traditions, and create spaces for them to thrive. The Arpo Earthlore Fellowship is an example of this vision in action. It reflects our commitment for inclusive cultural empowerment,” says Paroma Sadhana, programme manager, arts and culture, Tata Trusts. To make it an inclusive programme, two slots were kept open for members from non-tribal communities — filled in by Parvinder Singh, an instrument maker and handpan artist, and Rishab, a keyboard player and composer, from AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory. The fellowship provided a stipend of ₹15,000 a month.
Saving the artistic heritage
The Jenu Kurubas, or honey gatherers, also known as Kattunayakars in Kerala, are a reclusive forest-dwelling community, recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, with a deep-rooted culture of music and percussion. Living along the Kerala-Karnataka border, their dialect is a mix of Kannada and Tamil. “The Jenu Kuruba are a largely neglected group, which has been battling poverty, displacement and the resultant loss of cultural heritage,” says Sruthin Lal, co-founder of Arpo. “A few tribal artists such as Ramesh J.B. have been reviving the Jenu Kurubas’ music and composing songs in their dialect, with an aim to help younger people from the tribe to get re-acquainted with their heritage.”
Tribal musician Bala with Jenu Kuruba music instruments kai gajje and kal gajje from Arpo’s earlier documentation project.
Last year, Arpo facilitated a few senior artists from the community, including Ramesh, to participate in the second edition of the Mahindra Percussion Festival in Bengaluru. There was born the idea of a fellowship for young tribal artists, says Lal.
Voices from the margins
While many of these youngsters have been actively involved in singing and are part of musical collectives within the community, few could showcase their talent to a larger, diverse audience. Lal adds, “They were extremely keen to do mainstream numbers. ‘Why should our music be limited to traditional songs?’ they would ask.”
That the youngsters endured hours of travel by buses, in unrelenting rain, from their homes in various parts of Wayanad to the training centre in Mananthavady town, just to be able to learn and perform was inspiring, says Charu Hariharan, percussionist, singer and composer, and one of the mentors of the fellowship. The others were playback singer Sreekanth Hariharan, Mumbai composer and percussionist Viveick Rajagopalan and Bengaluru’s folk-rock musician Vasu Dixit.
Charu Hariharan, percussionist, singer, composer and a mentor in a training session with the fellows.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Arpo
Mentor-musician Charu Hariharan (left) on stage.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Arpo
Charu, who co-designed the programme curriculum, says, “we left the design of the programme to the tribal artists. They know their music the best. We offered suggestions and introduced them to some instruments, such as the konnakol. The words they write and the songs they sing are powerful and rich with meaning.” The mentors took the fellows through the technical aspects of a performance, advising them on “how to overcome voice strain” and “how to finetune shruti and tempo”.
Composer, percussionist and a mentor Viveick Rajagopalan.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Arpo
The young musicians built a repertoire of 10 songs, which included a bit of storytelling, theatrical elements, and rap. Ajithlal Sivalal, theatre practitioner and founder of Space of Act Theatre Collective, helped choreograph the performance movements. A mix of indigenous drums were used, such as thudi (used by the Paniya tribe), kottadhatta, a kind of drum made from bamboo, and the gajje, an anklet worn by the Jenu Kurubas, the djembe, and plastic drums the tribal youth use.
Ajithlal Sivalal (left, in floral shirt), theatre practitioner and founder of Space of Act Theatre Collective, in a choreography session with the fellows.
The fellowship further provided training in language and music production, on IPR (intellectual property rights), POSH (Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace [Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal]) Act, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Such programmes, Lal says, “can bring about a huge change” and hone the tribal youth’s “potential to grow into cultural leaders”.
Tunes of resistance and homecoming
Band member Shyni M., 35, from Chembakamoola in Mananthavady, and an ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker, says “Jenu Kurubas are generally a shy group; education is still a problem and we have been robbed of our land. The forest was our home and farming was our profession. Our ancestors grew ragi, corn and rice among other things. But today, we are landless and forced to become daily-wage labourers. I now live in a small house amid several other houses.”
Band member Shyni M,. 35, from the Jenu Kuruba tribe, from Chembakamoola in Mananthavady is an ASHA worker.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy ARPO
Many of their songs are fiercely political, speaking of the forest, nature, discrimination and colourism. “Our music is inextricably linked to the land of our ancestors. We are the children of the forest,” she adds, as Suraag S., 24, who’s pursuing his B.com at St Mary’s college, Mananthavady, says, “People may not understand our language, but the emotion they would get.”
A talented vocalist, Suraag has participated in several festivals and events such as Gothrathalam, held to preserve tribal artforms in Kerala. His own collective, Thidambu Gothra Kala Sangham Group, platforms tribal musicians. “I have been part of ganamelas too, which focus purely on film songs, but I love singing naadan paattu (folk songs) the most; I love the way the notes rise and fall,” he adds. Shyni, who says, “we see this (the fellowship) as a great opportunity to sing about our lives, our realities,” dreams of returning to the forest someday.
Earthlore band is next performing in Bengaluru on December 21 at Courtyard Koota and December 25 at Sabha.
