Pillai Theeni Theyyam: On the raised earthen platform, the demon bows over the seated "pregnant" woman, while holding a flapping white chicken in his right hand above the pregnant woman’s head. His skirt of split palm leaves reaches almost to the ground, and flames no longer burn in his split palm leaf headdress. He is no longer restrained by ritualists from attacking the pregnant woman, as he has accepted their offering of a white chicken, instead of the unborn child’s fetus. He The woman sits behind a bunch of areca blossoms held in front of her abdomen. A Pulluvan ritualist pours offerings over her head, perhaps to protect her from the demon. Ceṇḍa (chenda) vertical drums and smaller viku ceṇḍa drums and cymbal players play standing to her right on the raised earthen platform. Spectators stand in front of the opening of the backstage curtain. The demon is played by the Malayan dancer and teacher P.K. Panicker (Pallipurattu House, Kizhara PO, Cannanore. Malayan and Panan communities).
Pillai Theeni Theyyam: A demon is being restrained from attacking the pregnant woman. The demon is played by the Malayan dancer and teacher P.K. Panicker (Pallipurattu House, Kizhara PO, Cannanore. Malayan and Panan communities).
Seated portrait of Tiruppati, age 62, singing, the blind leader of Madurai Meenakshi Temple bhajana mandali (group devotional, sacred song, singers). Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy went to Madurai especially to meet Tiruppati, whom A. A. Bake recorded in 1938.
Dancer B. C. Balachandar performs an episode from the Ottan Thullal solo dance drama Kalyana Sougandhikam (“Auspicious Fragrant Lily”). He gestures in mock impatience at children in the audience. Musicians are behind him: a musician playing a mṛdaṅgam, a barrel shaped double-headed membranophone (seated, left), a singer and shruti peti musician (seated, center), a singer playing kai mani/jālra / taḷām cymbals (seated, right), a musician with an uḍukku variable tension hourglass drum (standing, right). Village children sit and stand to watch from the side. Adult men stand and watch from behind.
Gīgīpada (Gigipada, Gīgī Pada) singers of the Holeya community (left to right): Yerappa Basavappa Sutagaji, of Kalma Galli (voice and taal or jhāñjh); Ramachandra Ramappa Dhavale, of Tigadi Galli (voice and daf); and Basappa Gagappa Talwar, of Talwar Galli (voice and tuṇtuṇe). Gigipada singers performed Kannada songs, created by Hulkund Basappa, Purandara Dasa, and Hosur Somappa, at festivals. They sang mystical songs, auspicious songs, and modern songs on sanitation and cleanliness of body and mind.
Gondhal ceremony--Inauguration of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. Three musicians perform a Jāgran (Hindu ritual): Vāghyā Muralī Jāgran – Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu deity Khaṇḍobā and Goddess Amba. Standing behind a mandhab, musicians (left to right): Jagannath Tite (tuṇtuṇe), Bhagvan Renake (jālra), and R. H. Garuda (sambal). A flame, incense and objects are on the left.
Overhead shot of Nāiyāndī Mēḷam musicians with instruments. From left: Cuppiramaniyan, with hand taḷām cymbals, in a dark blue shirt and lunghi; an unidentified man; Kalidasa (in front in profile) plays a pambai drum pair; Om Periyaswamy; an unidentified man in dark pants behind him; Venkatesan, seen from the back, plays a tavil double-headed membranophone; a tamukku musician in a light blue shirt and white shawl; Mukkasāmi, leader, Paraiyan (non-hereditary musician) from Karamattur, plays a sattakulai (cattak kuḻāy) multiple reed aerophone; Conai, just behind Mukkasāmi, plays urumbi (urummi, uṟumi) double-headed variable tension membranophone; and an unidentified man. Recorded outdoors near TamilNadu Hotel.
Mannan men play charla cymbals and dance gleefully to a song to Valli and Valluvar, believed to be the first people to clear the forest and cultivate rice. The event is a festival of the Mannan Ādivāsī people with dance and music. The festival was held in honor of the goddess Madurai Minatci, and/or Kannaki and Kovalan (the heroine and hero of the Silappadikaram, a semi-legendary Hindu-Jain Tamil epic poem). The village of Mannankudi is near Kumili, which is 5 km from Thekkady.
Dancer B. C. Balachandar performs an episode from the Ottan Thullal solo dance drama Kalyana Sougandhikam (“Auspicious Fragrant Lily”). Musicians are behind him: a musician playing a mṛdaṅgam, a barrel shaped double-headed membranophone (seated, left), a singer and shruti peti musician (seated, center), a singer playing kai mani/jālra / taḷām cymbals (seated, right), a musician with an uḍukku variable tension hourglass drum (standing, right). Village children begin to appear to watch. Blurry shot due to camera movement.
Seated portrait of Tiruppati, age 62, singing, the blind leader of Madurai Meenakshi Temple bhajan mandali (group devotional, sacred song singers). Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy went to Madurai especially to meet Tiruppati, whom A. A. Bake recorded in 1938.
