Villu pattu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Villu pattu is the art of story telling in Tamil Nadu. Each region has developed its own style and tradition of story telling in various regional languages combining musical compositions between the narrations.
Story telling is called Katha in Sanskrit and Kathai in Tamil. The performing art, Kathakalakshepa, is common to people all over the world. The music is a simple and catchy folk music and is literally called a Bow-Song in English. It is a cultural wealth of tamils. In the fifteenth century, a pulavar is said to have originated the Villu Pattu.
The background music is provided by a big instrument which is madeup of palmyra tree or metal. The two ends of the bow are tied by a strong high tension string. The main vocalist will sit in the center of the bow with two slender rods called Vesukol. The artist, while singing well, artfully raises and moves his hands, holding the rods as to express the mood and the bhava portrayed in song, and deftly strikes against the bow string producing the tala or the time beat, synchronizing it with the stresses and the time beats in the song.
Apart from the variety of themes and stories, another very interesting feature in the Villu Pattu art is the ex-tempore debate in verse. The party divides itself into two groups. The main singer with the veesukol, those who sing with him and the two men who keep tala by playing on the Kastha and the cymbals form one group. While the 'pitcher player' 'Udukku player' and those who sing with them form another group. The first group of persons singing on the right hand side are called the rightists (Valathe padupavar) and those who sing on the left hand side will be called leftists (Idathe padupavar). The rightists will compose verses on the spot in a particular tune. The subject matter of the verses may be anything under the sun, on vedanta, or siddhanta mysticism, philosophy or theology. The verses of the rightists contain a series of questions and the leftists answer them in verse of the same metre and tune as those employed by the rightists.
