Kerala music and dance, explained for learners — the drums, the ensembles, the classical dance dramas and the film songs, with the vocabulary you need to talk about any of them. Kerala's music does not begin with melody. It begins with percussion, and Kerala's percussion is unlike anything else in the world. I am Dr. Reshmi R. Nair, an applied linguist from Kerala. I have taught hundreds of learners to speak Malayalam as it is actually spoken. THE WORDS സംഗീതം (sangeetham) - music പാട്ട് (paattu) - a song, the everyday word ഗാനം (gaanam) - a song, the literary word പാടുക (paaduka) - to sing രാഗം (raagam) - the melodic mode താളം (thaalam) - the rhythmic cycle വാദ്യം (vaadyam) - a musical instrument നൃത്തം (nritham) - dance അഭിനയം (abhinayam) - expressive acting കലാകാരൻ (kalaakaaran) - artist THE PERCUSSION ചെണ്ട (chenda) - the drum of the temple ensembles, played by dozens or hundreds together മേളം (melam) - a percussion ensemble പഞ്ചാരിമേളം (panchaari melam) - the great staged ensemble that halves its own cycle stage by stage പഞ്ചവാദ്യം (panchavaadyam) - the five-instrument ensemble തായമ്പക (thaayambaka) - the chenda solo form മദ്ദളം (maddalam) - the barrel drum ഇലത്താളം (ilathaalam) - the cymbals കൊമ്പ് (kombu) - the curved horn THE STAGE FORMS കഥകളി (kathakali) - Kerala's classical dance drama, from the 17th century മുദ്ര (mudra) - the codified hand gesture; a complete visual language in itself മോഹിനിയാട്ടം (mohiniyaattam) - the classical solo dance ഓട്ടൻതുള്ളൽ (ottanthullal) - the solo satirical performance form പടയണി (padayani) - the ritual form with painted masks Which of these have you seen or heard? Comment below and I will tell you what to listen for. #LearnMalayalam #Kerala #Malayalam