Folklores Gather New Ethos, Never Dies: Biennale Outreach Seminar

KOZHIKODE:

Rapid spread of consumerism is swallowing folklores the world over, but age-old customs in societies tend to alter slowly in tune with times, a seminar by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) noted today.

This general tendency to co-opt modern beliefs ensures that folklore is not just about past, but one with a capacity for constant update that retains its relevance and gives pointers to the future, speakers said at deliberations on ‘Contemporary Folklore and Cultural Resistance’, held at Vadakara in this district.

Eminent folklorist Prof Purushottam Bilimale, who inaugurated the day-long proceedings, cautioned against neo-fascist forces that are working towards wiping out subaltern voices that traditionally enriched folklores. “Of late, there have seen authoritarian moves to ensure a monolithic culture that mutes a whole range of approaches and aesthetics which existed traditionally,” he noted at the inaugural ceremony, which was followed by six sessions ahead of the Biblical ChavittuNadakam stomp-theatre.

The event, under the KBF’s ‘Art…Time…Conflict’ series, was a run-up to the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB-6) starting on December 12. The Outreach programme, curated by researcher Keli Ramachandran, had KMB President Bose Krishnamachari as the chief guest at the Vadakara Municipal Town Hall, 50 km north of the city.

A renowned visual artist, Krishnamachari noted that politics cannot be divorced from art. “Right from the world’s first biennale at Venice in 1895, the exhibits at all such new-art festivals have borne a link with regional or local politics. Their aesthetics are invariably backed up knowledge and an effort for fresh taken on history,” he added.

‘Art…Time…Conflict’ series curator Ramachandran recalled the timeline of group activities that eventually gifted India its first biennale in 2012. KMB gives performing arts, too, a prominence like no other biennale, he pointed out, welcoming the gathering at the inaugural ceremony that was chaired by poet Veerankutty, who is president of the Sahithyavedi that co-hosted the seminar, which honoured Kalaripayattu martial art exponent Padma Shri Meenakshi Amma.

Folk-arts scholar Dr Raghavan Payyanad, in his keynote, expressed anguish over the Unesco’s 2003 summit for safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage “effectively side-lining” folklores across continents. “For the west, folklore is associated with nostalgia. But this branch of socio-culture is much more than old-world matters,” he opined at the session, which began with a country song Pattupura Nanu. P.P. Damodaran and Puranthodath Gangadharan offered felicitations, while P.P. Rajan proposed thanks.

The subsequent session on ‘Folkloric Cinema; Cinematic Folklore’ saw the main speaker Dr Aju K. Narayanan disagreeing with Dr Raghavan. To Dr Aju, who teaches at the School of Letters in MG University near Kottayam, even movies add to folklore in modern times. “If pot-belly no more represents personal prosperity, films do have a role in the matter,” he said, attributing a trend of gymnasiums opening since the past decade to, say, six-pack abdomen that has come to define a fashionably healthy human body.

Dr P. Vasanthakumari, in her talk on‘Reflections on the Representation of Women in Folklore’, highlighted the ways oppressed females found expressions in folklore through performing arts. “Theyyam, thus, celebrates the valour of certain women by deifying them, even as men do the ritual dancing,” she noted at the session, moderated by Dr Aparna T.

The afternoon sessions delved into the singing traditions of Kerala, with V.T. Murali (The Kadathanadan Heritage of Music) and Faisal Elettil (The Resistance Value of Mappila Songs) leading the lectures. Dr A.K. Appukuttan spoke on ‘Music Tradition of Edanad Midlands’, while Ravi Wayanad gave a presentation on ‘Life and Rhythm of Tribal Music’.

Comparing and contrasting north Malabar’s Theyyam tradition with Chavittu Nadakam of coastal Kochi, Y.V. Kannan and Roy Georgekutty came up with a demonstration that drew particular interest from the audience. The closing session was addressed by literary critic Dr P. Pavithran, while seminar coordinator Dr K.M. Bharathan presided.

The 75-minute ChavittuNadakam, titled ‘Karalman Charitham’, was staged by Kurumbathuruth Yuva Kerala Chavittunataka Vedi of Ernakulam district. The artistes of the 500-year-old form with Portuguese links, were from Puthenvelikara near North Paravur.

KMB-6 has its artworks curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, Goa. The show will be on till March 31, 2026. KBF is a 2010-registered non-profit charitable trust.