Mappila
Patttukal (Mopla Songs)
The Muslim arts forms reflect the day to day life of
the community through the songs which are generally known as Mappila Pattukal.
These songs represent a long tradition of a happy blending of Arab and
local elements of music. The language used in these songs represents a
mixture of Arab, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit and Kannada. It
is believed that the rich literature of Mopla songs has a long history
going back to 700 years. The oldest known Mopla songs were mostly devotional
dealing with the life of religious people. The earlier songs were extremely
lyrical, highly imaginative and humanistic and earthly. These songs sung
in rituals, household ceremonies like marriage and as a vocal accompaniment
for dances. Love, heroism and devotion to God are the basic sentiments
in these songs. The working people among the Muslim sing these songs to
minimise the monotony and weariness of labour. There are songs which prop
esoteric appeal. The songs of an erotic nature known as 'kess' are considered
to be later addition. |
