Bamboo is their soul and sound. ‘Vayali’, a Thrissur-based band formed in 2004, has taken Kerala folk music and tribal percussion nestled in and around the river Nila to a new audience. Named after ‘Vayali’, the Goddess of the paddy fields, the band believes in the “purity” of instrumental music.

The musical instruments, solely made of bamboo, except for the metallic timer which couldn’t be converted into a  bamboo version, are made by the members themselves. Among these are long drums, leather drum, seven longs, kirti kirte, rain stick, bamboo marimba (xylophone), flute, ‘mulam chenda’ (bamboo drum), and ‘onavillu’ (a traditional Kerala instrument that looks like a bow). Some musical instruments found in other parts of the world inspire the members of Vayali to experiment and innovate. Kheena (a Bolivian instrument made with cattle bones) and Dan trung (the Vietnamese instrument), have been made in bamboo.

Pradeep, one of the band members says, “Our flautist Krishnadas saw a kheena while surfing the internet. He tried to make it in bamboo. It worked.”

Apart from Vinod and Pradeep, the band has eleven members. Vayali is the brainchild of a software engineer, Vinod Nambiar, who keenly follows the Valluvanadan (an area formed by the contiguous portions of Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur Districts in Kerala).“There was a Centre for Folklore Studies in Thrissur. I worked closely with the organisation. Their work made me understand the value of our culture and tradition, and the pressing need for preserving them. I joined hands with a few like-minded friends, and Vayali was born,” he adds.

It was a Japanese girl, Tomoe, who gave the much needed push to the band to perform outside India.

Tomoe was learning Mohiniyattam at Nadana Kairali, Irinjalakuda, and fell in love with Vayali’s music. Even after she left for Japan, she kept in touch with the musicians and ensured that the band performed at the Music Festival conducted by Japanese Government at ‘Mount Fuji’ in 2007. The theme of the band is Ulanju Kutta, a folk lullaby from Thrissur. Daffodils, A walk into the village, Rangoli, Thaalam, Nature, Vanjippattu, Vasantharthan, kurumpattu, and nedumpattu are some of the popular Vayali melodies.

“After returning from our performance in Japan, we explored the bamboo music traditions. We have researched a lot on the sound and tradition of bamboo music. Tribal percussion instruments such as ‘Mulam Chenda’, ‘Mezha Mooli’ and the flute got a new lease of life,” adds Vinod.

  Vayali has performed at the Kerala Kalamandalam, Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music in Bangalore, in an ensemble with the Japanese Bamboo Orchestra Rakutakedan at Kalpetta and the CMS Vatavaran Short Film Festival in New Delhi.

Making music wasn’t easy initially. Most of the members were from economically backward communities. Being the sole breadwinners of their families, they found pursuing music difficult.

However, they were driven by a passion for their folk traditions. “We decided to make the folk performing arts our livelihood. It changed our lives forever,” says Vinod.