Sopanam

Sopana Sangeetham is a form of Indian classical music that developed in the temples of Kerala in south India in the wake of the increasing popularity of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda or Ashtapadis.

The name derives from two Malayalam or Sanskrit or Telugu words: Sopanam and Sangeetham. The word Sopanam refers to the sacred steps of main shrine of a temple and Sangeetham refers to music.

Sopana sangeetham (music), as the very name suggests, is sung by the side of the holy steps (sopanam) leading to the sanctum sanctorum of a shrine. It is sung, typically employing plain notes, to the accompaniment of the small, hourglass-shaped ethnic drum called 'edakka' or idakka, besides the chengila or the handy metallic gong to sound the beats. Sopanam is traditionally sung by men of the Marar and Pothuval castes of Ambalavasi (semi-Brahmin) community, engaged to do it as their hereditary profession.

Sopana sangeetham has its essential features born out of a happy blending of the Vedic, folk and tribal music of the region that is now called Kerala. It has it set of distinct ragas like Puraneera, Indalam, Kanakurinhi, Sreekanti, Ghantaram and Samantamalahari, but has also a lot of ragas that are commonly used in the south Indian classical Carnatic music. However, unlike in Carnatic music, Sopanam follows a more uncomplicated plain-note profile (a technique called Aantolika gamakam), and is canonically devoid of microtones. All the same, like in Carnatic, it has an introductory segment called alapanam (alapana), though it is based on 'akaaram' or the sole use of the sound Aaa (unlike 'ta', 'ra', 'na', 'ha' or 'ri' that are employed in Carnatic music). This is followed by the song (paattu), quite like the concept of Kriti in Carnatic music, though, again there are no flourishes like niraval or Kalpanaswaram.

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