Tamil music

300px|right|thumb|Thavil A thavil (Tamil:தவில்) or tavil is a barrel-shaped percussion instrument from Tamil Nadu. It is also widely used in other South Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana) as well as in the North and East of Sri Lanka (in the Tamil majority area called Tamil Eelam). It is used in temple, folk and Carnatic music, often accompanying the nadaswaram. The thavil and the nadaswaram are essential components of traditional festivals and ceremonies in South India.

plucked string instrument

The Tevaram (, ), also spelled Thevaram, denotes the first seven volumes of the twelve-volume collection Tirumurai, a Shaiva narrative of epic and Puranic heroes, as well as a hagiographic account of early Shaiva saints set in devotional poetry. The Tevaram volumes contain the works of the three most prominent Shaiva Tamil saints of the 7th and 8th centuries: Sambandar, Appar, and Sundarar. The three saints were not only involved in portraying their personal devotion to Shiva, but also engaged a community of believers through their songs. Their work is an important source for understanding the

brass instrument

Parai also known as Thappattai or Thappu is a traditional percussion instrument from South India, used to make announcements and played during festivals, folk dances, weddings and functions. It is played predominantly by the Tamils in Tamil Nadu, and in other regions with significant Tamil diaspora such as Sri Lanka. Although there are many variants of the instrument, it generally consists of a drum made of wood, open on one side and closed with a stretched animal hide on the other side along with two wooden sticks used for beating the drum.

The Kalaimamani (lit. 'Jewel of Arts') is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu, to recognise artists in the state for their achievements.

The yazh (, also transliterated yāḻ, ) is a harp used in ancient Tamil music. It was strung with gut strings that ran from a curved ebony neck to a boat or trough-shaped resonator, the opening of which was a covered with skin for a soundboard. At the resonator the strings were attached to a string-bar or tuning bar with holes for strings that laid beneath of the soundboard and protruded through. The neck may also have been covered in hide.

Dappankuthu (or simply Kuthu; ) is a folk dance and music genre, that is typically danced to the Gaana music genre or Kuthu Beats with an emphasis on percussion performed in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of several popular genres employed in film music, mainly in Tamil cinema and other South films, filmed and produced by people of Tamil culture. Unlike classical Indian dances such as bharatanatyam or kathakali, dappankuthu is relatively informal in that it has no structured, repeated steps and dancers do not learn through formal dance classes. It shares its emphasis on percu

thumb|Oppaari Song An oppari is an ancient form of lamenting in southern India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, and North-Eastern Sri Lanka. Oppari is a folk song tradition and is often an admixture of eulogy and lament. The oppari is typically sung by a group of women relatives who came to pay respects to the departed in a death ceremony. It is a means to express one's own grief and also to share and assuage one's grief for the deceased. Many communities use the oppari to express their grief at a funeral. Sometimes professional oppari singers are recruited, but it is a dying practice

overview music of Tamil Nadu region; overview of music of Tamil people as ethnic group

double-headed hour-glass shaped drum used in South India

The Paripādal (, meaning the paripadal-metre anthology) is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the fifth of the Eight Anthologies (Ettuthokai) in the Sangam literature. According to Tolkappiyam, Paripadal is a kind of verse dealing only with love (akapporul) and does not fall under the general classification of verses. It has a minimum of 25 lines and a maximum of 400 lines. It is an "akam genre", odd and hybrid collection which expresses love in the form of religious devotion (Bhakti) to gods and goddesses predominantly to Mayon and Murugan. According to Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil li

The Tiruppugal (Tamil: , Thiruppugazh, IPA/Tamil: , meaning 'Holy Praise' or 'Divine Glory'), sometimes spelled Thiruppugazh, is a 14th-century anthology of Tamil religious songs dedicated to Murugan (Kartikeya), the son of Shiva, written by the poet-saint Arunagirinathar (Tamil: , '''', ). The anthology is considered one of the central works of medieval Tamil literature, both for its poetical and musical qualities, and for its religious, moral and philosophical content.