Monday, September 04, 2006

The steps of performing Kathakali

Again I am back with something else. I hope you enjoyed the previous posts. Now I would like to discuss a few things about the steps before starting a Kathakali performance.
The Kathakali is usually performed throughout the night. It starts of with the so called "Keli Kottu". It will be usually conducted in the evning to indicate that Kathakali is there that night. In the night Kathakali will start of with " Todayam -Purappadu". It is basically praises of God - mostly Krishna - to get the blessings. After this will be the "Manjutara - Melappadam". It is to show the capabilities of the co-artists and singers in front of the audiance. Then starts the play of a story which is decided to play that day. Usually there will be two or three sories in a day. It can also happen that they may play only one lengthy story that day. It depends on the duration of the play as well as the length of the story.

No comments: