Vol. 4 No. S-8 (2022): Volume 4, Issue S-8, Year 2022
Articles

Musical Traditions of Sri Lankan Mattakalappu (Batticaloa) Threnodic Songs

Thangarasa Gopinath
Department of Music, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram-608002, Tamil Nadu, India

Published 2022-08-20

Keywords

  • Threnodic Songs,
  • Batticaloa Tradition,
  • Music

How to Cite

Gopinath, T. . (2022). Musical Traditions of Sri Lankan Mattakalappu (Batticaloa) Threnodic Songs. International Research Journal of Tamil, 4(S-8), 408-413. https://doi.org/10.34256/irjt22s856

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Abstract

Lullaby songs and threnodic songs are indispensable in the lives of men. Threnodic songs are also found as oral literature. Threnodics are songs that are sung after a person's death by his mother, wife, daughter, and other relatives, with a long tone to express the feeling of sadness, by telling about the nature and habits of the deceased. The theme of the song is the lifestyle of the deceased, the habits, the ability to speak, the physical appearance, and the relationship between the deceased and the singer. In this, the smallest of the sentences are found along with the rhyme and alliteration. These are often sung to the sound of a musical cry. Since it is an expression of emotions without any rhythm or meter, there are unique characteristics of the song, such as ups and downs, storytelling, intermittent crying, and singing of the three periods together, viz., vilampa kaalam (pacifying tune), thuritha kaalam (fast tune), and mathiya kaalam (medium tune). This is known as Pilakanam (lamentation), Kaiyarunilai (helplessness), Pulambal (wailing), and Irankarpaa (elegy). How to live is the grammar of a lullaby. But the grammar of the threnodic song is that it sings about the lifestyle of the deceased. In the house of death, the threnodic songs are formed by the expression of emotions and the mental status of those who have lost their relationships. These are new, different from person to person, according to their imagination, and correspond to the relationship between the dead and the singer. Field studies showed that a threnodic song is an expression of emotions that come without any restrictions. The purpose of writing this paper was to find out and document the fact that the threnodic songs sung in Batticaloa are characterized by the expression and uniqueness of emotions, along with many musical traditions.

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References

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  2. Pakriswamy Bharathi, K.A., (2006) India Isai Karuvoolam, Kuselar Pathippagam, Chennai, India.