A team of ethnomusicologists from the US are coming down to Malabar to trace the origin of Mapilapattu.
Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, well-known music researcher and professor of ethnomusicology at California University, who is leading the team, is bringing with her a rare collection of Mapilapattu recorded by a British musicologist during the Raj.
Enjoy these originals
Prof. Amy and her team will unfold some original gems of Mapilapattu recorded in Malappuram on April 19 and 20, 1938, by Arnold Bake, professor of musicology at London University, in front of an audience at PSMO College, Tirurangadi, on Thursday.
The students and teachers of PSMO College, particularly its history researchers, are excited about the return of some Mapilapattu gems in their original form from across the oceans.
Prof. Bake had recorded those songs using singers of Malappuram, Mamburam, Parappanangadi, and Pullankode Estate.
Two days later, he recorded some more songs in Kozhikode. He had also collected some Lakshadweep songs as part of that venture.
“We are excited about that rare collection going to be unfolded before us. Some of those songs have long fallen into oblivion,” said PSMO College Principal K. Azeez. “Some of them are not even available in print,” he said.
Prof. Amy will present her collection in front of a refined crowd at PSMO College and lead a discussion on it. The young generation of Mapilapattu singers will copy those songs and render a fresh version.
Prof. Amy and team will record the modern version and take it back to California University. Neelima Jayachandran, research fellow from Pennsylvania University, will be on the team.
‘From Africa to India: Sidi Music in Indian Ocean Diaspora’, a documentary produced by Prof. Amy along with her husband Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, will also be screened at the college.
The documentary unfolds the origin of Sidi-Sufi music and dance form that reached the Western Indian coast centuries ago from Africa.
