Kochi & Central Kerala · Western Coastal Strip
The oarsmen's song — sung in vanchipattu metre, whose stresses match the stroke of the paddle so that a hundred rowers pull as one.
Sung at: Snake-boat races and backwater rowing. The best-known literary example is Ramapurathu Warrier's 18th-century "Kuchela Vrutham Vanchipattu", composed for a royal boat journey.
Songs of Mahabali's yearly return to see whether his people are still happy and equal — "Maveli nadu vaneedum kalam", a description of a just society, is sung by schoolchildren across the state.
Sung at: Onam.
The northern ballads — cycles about Thacholi Othenan and the Puthooram house of Aromal Chekavar and Unniyarcha, full of duels, kalari honour and women who fight. The source material for much of modern Malayalam cinema's action mythology.
Sung at: Sung as narrative ballads.
Work songs with call-and-response structure, tied to the rhythm of transplanting paddy or hauling a load.
Sung at: Fieldwork, harvest, boat-pulling.
Sung by women in a circle around the lamp while dancing kaikottikali — devotional, but also full of teasing and domestic detail.
Sung at: Thiruvathira and Onam.
Love, separation, the sea and the trade; also the padappattu battle songs that recount local resistance.
Sung at: Weddings and gatherings in Malabar.
The folk songs of Kochi & Central Kerala — what they are about, who sings them and when. (6)