POEM

Heartbeat pounds to the beat of drums,Feet keep time, ears tell mind, that this music is way to fast,Cymbals clash, mallets bash, against the heads of drums,The world seems to spin, as the band begins, and joins the percussion line,Suddenly the music stops, signaling the end of the song,Please tell me why, it feels so wrong, when the sounds of the pumping drums are gone?

CATALOGUE

this is the double-spread.

this is the front and the back cover.

In my catalogue, i tried to incorporate both the elements of design viz, minimalistic as well as the curvelinear style of kerala face painting which also goes with the rhythm and the flow since my topic is based on Percussions. One of the important things i noticed about the kerala artefacts and artforms is that, it is very SYMMETRIC which can act as a strong design element in designing stationary for a client. For the poster as well as the catalogue, i made a colour palette using a kathakalli poster. hence the colours added are not random.

Poster

HOW TO ADDRESS THE INTERNATIONL-NATIONAL-LOCAL AUDIENCES AT THE SAME TIME?

I was impressed by the kathakalli dance colours and the kerala murals. so i tried to incorporate the bright colours in the poster.The biggest problem i faced was how to get the feel of kerala? and that is when i started noticing the line quality, the thickness,the colour etc. in kerala artworks and artefacts. The lines they use are very bold and curvilinear. That is why the use of curvilinear form is very intentional and not random.
From what was mentioned in the class earlier, the display in the museum was to be made keeping in mind the international-national-local market, audience and the standards. That is when i redesigned the poster using minimalistic elements. you can notice the stark difference in both the posters.

this was the sketch made for the poster.

DISPLAY

The initial stage of the process of the course was to collect material for the museum. That meant a lot of research. so, after two days of research; I decided my topic to be Panchavadyam.
The aim behind the display was to almost re-create the the feel and the energy of the Panchavadyam. But at the same time, also compel the viewer to have a sort of interaction with the object at display.
The display was hence made not static but interactive. The display is more of a performance than a display.
There are 4 stages to the display.
Stage 1:

• viewer is led to a dark room.

Stage 2:

• There is a plasma screen on the front wall.


• There will be display of showcase of instruments used in Panchavadyam in the centre of the room.



• The original instrument will be displayed on the upper surface of the showcase whereas the components of the instruments will be on a display inside the showcase alongwith captions just giving away the name of the instrument and the component.



• On the plasma screen, the footage of the making of every instrument in panchavadyam will be screened.



• the footage will be around 1 minute long.

Stage 3:

• At this, stage the room becomes dark again.



• This is just to evoke a feeling of curiosity in the viewer's mind.
  

Stage4:

• suspended in room are the instruments scaled uptp around 5 times their normal size.



• the suspension will be similar to the formation of Panchavadyam in Thrissur Pooram festival.



• The main attraction of the festival are the decorated elephants with parasols. Hence there will be a back projection of the elephants on the front as well as the either sides of the wall.



• the room will be equipped with a surround sound system.



• The Panchavadyam percussions will be played.
  

RESEARCH

Like most parts of India, festivals in Kerala are an integral part of the social and cultural structure of the state and festival time is the best time to plan one's travel to Kerala.
In Kerala, every community, every religion has something to celebrate about all through out the year. Thrissur Pooram is one of such festivals celebrated.
In this festival there is a the marvelous as well as magical effect of the Panchavadyam, a combination of five percussion and wind instruments, is a sight that tourist on vacations in Kerala will cherish for a lifetime.
Panchavadyam meaning an orchestra of 5 instruments originates from Kerala and is a temple associated art form. This is composed of 4 percussion instruments Timila, Maddalam , Edakka, Elathalam and a wind instrument Kompu.

The maddalam is considered to be a divine instrument or Deva Vadya on account of its inclusion as a major accompaniment in the 'Dance of Lord Siva, the Destroyer'. References to maddalam date back to the 13th century. There are two varieties: Suddha maddalam and Toppi maddalam. The former is tied around the waist of the player with a cloth, while the latter is a smaller version suspended from the neck of the player. Barrel shaped and carved from jack wood, both ends of the maddalam are covered with stretched hide and fastened by leather straps.

During the orchestra it is the maddalam and thimila which vie with each other for prominence. The latter is an hour-glass shaped drum made from polished jackwood. The drumheads made of calf hide are held together by leather braces which are also twined round the waist of the drum. This mechanism helps in adjusting the tension and controlling the sound. It is a must during temple rituals like Seeveli, a ceremonial procession of deities.

The Edakka is an extremely sensitive percussion instrument. Made of wood and about a quarter metre long, the drumheads are held in position by interlacing cotton threads. The player beats the drum with one hand while simultaneously manipulating the strings with the other, thus creating a variety of musical notes. Kombu, literally meaning horn, is a C-shaped wind instrument made of brass or copper. Its shrill blare helps in subduing the pitch of the other instruments. The ilathalam is a native version of the cymbals.

Elathalam is a musical instrument which resembles a miniature cymbal. This instrument is completely made out of bronze and it has two pieces in it. This is played by keeping one part of the cymbal in left hand hand banging the other cymbal to the one in left hand. Even seemingly this instrument is small, this does have more thickness than a cymbal and is very small in radius, but gives a distinct chime.

Kompu is a C-shaped bell metal wind instrument.