Eight men in red tunics and orange trousers, sashes and handkerchiefs, and wearing ghunghru ankle bells, perform dance songs, in Tamil, accompanied by a tavil musician. Dances performed include the Oyilāṭṭām "graceful dance" with handkerchiefs (Item 3), the Kummi hand clapping dance, and the Kolāttam “stick dance.” A whistle is heard at the end of each dance. For Item 3, the Data Sheet references the 1938 A. A. Bake recording, Bake 7.2 "Nilattam / Dance with handkerchiefs.
Om Periyaswamy Nāiyāndī Mēḷam ensemble rehearsal at the Hotel TamilNadu. The jeep of the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology is visible behind the group. <br/><br/>1. The video begins with views of the preparation of the horse costume props for the Poikkaal Kuthirai Aattam dance, follow by views of other props, and then the washing of the sattakolai.<br/><br/> 2. Folk tunes with sattakolai: Rehearsal. From left: Om Periyaswamy (in white kurta and lunghi); two men stand behind him, a drummer in light blue shirt and white shawl (small single-headed membranophone with two sticks); Conai (urumbi / urummi / uṟumi double-headed variable tension membranophone with curving stick), Mukkasāmi, the leader, a Paraiyan (non-hereditary musician) from Karamattur (sattakolai multiple-reed aerophone with 10 holes); Kalidasa, seen from the back (pambai double-headed membranophone pair with two slightly curving sticks); Venkatesan (tavil double-headed membranophone); and Cuppiramaniyan, in a dark blue shirt (tāḷam cymbals). <br/><br/>3. Folk tunes with nāgasvaram. From left: Om Periyaswami watches, Kalidasa (pambai drum pair), Arunachalam Pillai, a hereditary musician (nāgasvaram quadruple-reed aerophone), Sankarayya Pillai (ottu drone nāgasvaram artist), Cuppiramaniyan in a dark blue shirt and lunghi (tāḷam cymbals), Venkatesan (pambai double-headed membranophone pair with two slightly curving sticks), Mukkasāmi (sattakolai multiple-reed aerophone).
A Nāiyāndī Mēḷam ensemble plays two preludes before the dance and song performances begin. <br/><br/>1. Folk Tune prelude. (00:00) There are bird sounds, visuals of horse costumes, a man assembles the dancers' headgear and props. (04:00) Nazit Jairazbhoy, off camera, asks "Shattakolai?, shattakolai?" A player nods. <br/><br/>2. Music prelude with karam pot dance tune. The musicians are, from left, Conai (urumbi, urummi, uṟumi) double-headed variable tension membranophone with curving stick), Mukkasāmi, the leader, a Paraiyan (non-hereditary musician) from Karamattur (sattakolai multiple-reed aerophone with 10 holes), a drummer in light blue shirt and white shawl (small single-headed membranophone with two sticks), Kalidasa, tall drummer, (pambai double-headed membranophone pair with two slightly curving sticks), Venkatesan (tavil double-headed membranophone); and Cuppiramaniyan, in a dark blue shirt, (taḷām cymbals). <br/><br/>3. Poikkaal Kuthirai Aattam dance is performed by Madurai Om Periyaswamy, son of Om Periyaswamy, and another dancer, each wearing a “false leg horse” or "dummy-horse” costume. They do battle with dancers in red costumes, who are "slain" and carried away. Om Periaswami talks to musicians, followed by a series of Karakāṭṭam pot dances. <br/><br/>4. - 9. Karakāṭṭam, an acrobatic dance performed with pots balanced on the head, in praise of the rain goddess Mariamman. Dancers include daughters of Om Periyaswamy, Madurai Om Periyaswamy, and 1 other man. <br/><br/>7. Karakāṭṭam dance, hoops. <br/><br/>8. Karakāṭṭam dance ladders. 9. Karakāṭṭam dance ladders and karana poses. A woman perched on the ladders holds karana poses. <br/><br/>10. Karakāṭṭam dance, sari. Madurai Om Periyaswamy, wearing a Karakam on his head that is topped by a parrot, unwraps a sari on the ground, then rolls on the sari until he rises fully clothed in the sari, and wears it as he performs with the other dancers, Cārangapāni and Ayyamāl, also balancing pots and parrots on their heads, to the kāvadi cintu hemiola meter. He then unwraps the sari, folds it, and dances with the two other dancers to the continuing kāvadi cintu hemiola meter, until they all bow. <br/><br/>11. Kāvadi. Dance performed by Cenatipati (son of Om Periyaswamy). <br/><br/>12. Nāiyāndī Mēḷam postlude. Musicians Arunachalam Pillai (nāgasvaram) and Sankarayya Pillai (ottu drone nāgasvaram) perform. <br/><br/>13. Sattakolai Demonstration. At the end a sattakolai (cattak kuḻāy) demonstration is performed by Mukkasāmi.
