Dappankuthu (or simply Kuthu) is a folk dance and

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from '' musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are som ...

with an emphasis on percussion performed in the

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

. It is one of several popular genres employed in film music, mainly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

and other South films, filmed and produced by people of

Tamil culture Tamil culture is the culture of the Tamil people. Tamil culture is rooted in the arts and ways of life of Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and across the globe. Tamil culture is expressed in language, literature, music, dance, the ...

. Unlike classical Indian dances such as

bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

kathakali Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...

, dappankuthu is relatively informal in that it has no structured, repeated steps and dancers do not learn through formal dance classes. It shares its emphasis on percussion with older folk dances of

, such as kummi and kolattam.

Musical instruments

A percussion instrument called Tharai thappattai in Tamil, without the jingles, is often used for dappankuthu or similar dance forms. Unlike normal tambourines, this requires a wooden stick to play. The urumee drum is also often used. A customised trumpet (called Nadaswaram locally) is also sometimes employed. The rhythm of the dappankuthu is often signified by a mix of beat patterns layered and flowing into one another. Other percussion instruments may be employed in dappankuthu. A similar instrument called ''TamaTe'' in Kannada resembling a Ganesh

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thou ...

is also used for such dance forms in border areas such as M.M. Hills. The most-used

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western culture, Western musical notation to specify how many beat (music), beats (pulses) are contained in each measu ...

for dappankuthu songs is .

Outfit and embellishments

Even though any attire can be worn when one dances the dappankuthu, a

lungi The lungi is a type of sarong that originated in the Indian Subcontinent. The Lungi, which usually multicoloured, is a men's skirt usually tied around the lower waist below the navel. it can be worn as casual wear and night wear, in places a ...

(colourful cloth wrapped around the waist) is commonly worn and most preferable, with the bottom raised and folded upwards over the knees in the middle. Ideally, it should be worn over pattapatti (lined trousers). The shirt worn would have only two or three buttons in place, while the chest portion is left wide open and at the lower part of the shirt is knotted (using the two portions of the shirt). It is also common to tie a handkerchief or bandana around one's forehead and/or wrist. Loud clapping and whistling by spectators often accompany the dappankuthu dance. Spectators are also known to set off

firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...

s called locally as "Pattaasu" on the ground during the performance. Facial expressions are employed for effect by the dancers. For example, the tongue, folded over and held in position with the front teeth, is brought out at regular intervals. In Male Mahadeshwara hills of Karnataka bordering Tamil Nadu, the music for this dance will be played for money, and the believers can dance for longer time. Particularly in this hill, there is a saying that god feels happy if his believers dance for him.

In popular culture

* The genre has been used in several films of

, and was noticeably used in the songs " Boyz" and "

Bird Flu "Bird Flu" is an urumee melam-dance song by recording artist M.I.A. on her second studio album ''Kala'' (2007). It was released as a digital download in 2006 through XL Recordings under exclusive license to Interscope Records in the US. Cri ...

" by M.I.A. on her 2007 album '' Kala.''

References

{{reflist

External links

A sample of the dappankuthu danceA sample of the dappankuthu beat
Tamil dance styles Culture of Chennai Tamil music Folk dances of Tamil Nadu