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.