KERALA: (Inde du Sud/South India). Le chant des Pulluvan/Pulluvan Songs (review)

With this CD, Laurent Aubert has drawn attention to a rather complex musical system that lies outside the realm of the much-studied classical traditions of Kerala, a culturally diverse region on the southwest coast of India. The performers are known as Puḷḷuvan and their songs as Puḷḷuvan paṭṭu (Malayalam, "song of Puḷḷuvan"). The Puḷḷuvan are family ensembles of itinerant bards. Their performances combine religious myths and rituals with melody, melodic and rhythmic instrumental accompaniment, visual and decorative arts, and body movements. The Puḷḷuvan sing to propitiate the serpent-gods, ward off evil, and invoke divine blessings on their patrons. One of the rituals is called pāmpin tuḷḷal ("trembling of snakes"), which is associated mostly with small neighborhood shrines or temples dedicated to the serpent-god. The ritual is preceded by the ceremonial selection of a space made sacred for the occasion, the erection of a temporary pavilion (pandal) decorated with tender palm leaves, and drawing of snake-images with multicolored powder on the ground. During the ceremony young virgins, entranced by the haunting melodies and repeated rhythmic patterns, allow themselves to be possessed by the snake spirits, and tremble and gyrate their bodies simulating the movement of snakes.

The Puḷḷuvan accompany themselves on the musical instruments: vīṇa, a single-stringed fiddle with or without bells attached; kuṭam, a clay pot that has a truncated base covered with cowhide connected to a variable tension mono-chord; and kaymaṇi, a pair of small cymbals. The names of the first two instruments are often referred to as "Puḷḷuvan vīṇa" and "Puḷḷuvan kuṭam" to distinguish them from their usage in other contexts. For example, kuṭam, a clay pot used to fetch and store water, is called ghaṭam when used as a percussion instrument in Karnatak classical music, and viīṇa is a long-necked, fretted lute in the classical tradition. To the Puḷḷuvan, the musical instruments are much more than sound-and rhythm-producing mechanisms; they are a living link in the reenactment of myths that connect to stories as old as the Mahābhārata (first millennium BCE).

The CD is an excellent introduction to the Puḷḷuvan's repertoire. There are nine tracks recorded between 2001–03 on different occasions at various locations. The recording quality is excellent, and the vocal and instrumental sonorities are distinct. The thirty-six page booklet in French with English translation provides information on the Puḷḷuvan and their music, the ritual of the serpent-gods, the performers, and their musical instruments. The notes on individual tracks include a description of song themes. Since music is only a part of the Puḷḷuvan's art, the booklet includes eight excellent photographs to help listeners relate to some of the more visual aspects of the performance.

The selection of tracks offers "an encompassing sound image of Puḷḷuvan music, while highlighting the individual qualities of the performers" (28). The inclusion of performers from four different family ensembles helps to experience male and female inflections and a variety of performance styles in the repertoire. The themes range from praises of popular Hindu gods like Shiva (track 1) and Ganapati (track 4), to a song to invoke blessings on Aubert (track 9).

Aubert acknowledges the limitations in the scholarly presentation of the repertoire because, among other things, the Puḷḷuvan do not agree on the names of various rhythmic patterns or on the descriptions of the melodic structure (24). The difficulty lies partly in representing polysemic words that have specific connotations attributed arbitrarily by the practitioners of a particular tradition. One such term is rūpam, which...