Kuzhal Pattu

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Kuzhal Pattu This is the only kshetram genre in which the melody instrument is used to produce a melodic line. Nowadays little attention is paid to this wonderful solo performance style; only some very big temple festivals stage kuzhal pattu performances. The reasons might lie in the Kerala people's predilection for pure percussion styles, and in the competition of the south Indian classical music system. In kuzhal pattu the kuzhal is accompanied by the drums chenda and toppi maddalam, the ilatalam cymbals, and sometimes a sruti (drone) kuzhal. The unmetered first part is only accompanied by the sruti kuzhal and the ragas natta, harikamphoji, sankarabaranam, and bairavi are played in sequence. In the second part the kuzhal players are accompanied by the ilatalam cymbals, and either an itantala chenda or a toppi maddalam drum. The solo artists play the ragas kambhoji and sankarabarnam within the 16-beat rhythmic cycle chempata x . u . x . u . x . u . x . u . x . u . x . u . x . x . x . u . (broken down to 32 pulses for diagrammatic presentation). The third part, played in a faster tempo and in hamsadwani raga, employs the 4-beat rhythmic cycle x . x . x . u . After a kalasam (finishing cadence) the fourth part is performed in one beat cycle (eka talam) in the ragas kampoji and madhyamavati. In this stage an additional valantala chenda is employed. A final kalasam concludes the performance.

From: Killius, Rolf. 2006 ’Ritual Music and Hindu Rituals of Kerala.’ New Delhi: BR Rhythms. ISBN: 81-88827-07-X; with author permission