Oppari

Last updated
Oppaari Song

An oppari is an ancient form of lamenting [1] 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.

Contents

Content and theme

The songs do not follow a set pattern; rather, the lyrics are sung impromptu, mostly improvised, and eulogise the person who has died. [2] The oppari is also often centred around the relatives of the deceased and stresses the nature of the blood relation (mother, father, brother, sister etc.) between the person and the deceased. [3] The oppari singer sings, wails and beats her chest and accompanied to the sounds of a beating drum she helps mourners bring their buried grief to the surface. [4]

A sample theme of a daughter lamenting father's death is described below:

Her body, wracked with grief, sways and her full-throated voice rises and falls as she talks to her father. "You were a freedom fighter, you worked with Subhash Chandra Bose, for six months you went to Germany," she wails, beating the ground with her hands. "In Germany, you met a girl you fell in love with. I found her photograph one day and you told me all about her, though my mother, whom you married when you came back to India after Independence, was angry." [5]

Opparis are rich in wordplay relating to names and events associated with the deceased person. Colourful local idioms also decorate the lyrics. While oppari singing is still prominent in rural Tamil Nadu, the tradition had almost died out in urban Tamil Nadu.

Representation in modern cinema

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meena (actress)</span> Indian actress (born 1976)

Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films She is one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. S. Chithra</span> Indian playback singer

Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over 47 years she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. S. Viswanathan</span> Indian actor-musician

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan, also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar", he composed songs for more than 800 Indian films and various albums across languages primarily in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few Tamil films. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa conferred the "Thirai Isai Chakravarthy" title on him in August 2012 and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shreya Ghoshal</span> Indian playback singer (born 1984)

Shreya Ghoshal is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and popular singers of India. Often referred as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable vocal expressions, Ghoshal is widely regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of the Indian subcontinent. She has recorded songs for films and albums in various Indian and foreign languages and received numerous accolades, including five National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two BFJA Awards, seven Filmfare Awards and ten Filmfare Awards South.

The death wail is a keening, mourning lament, generally performed in ritual fashion soon after the death of a member of a family or tribe. Examples of death wails have been found in numerous societies, including among the Celts of Europe; and various indigenous peoples of Asia, the Americas, Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manorama (Tamil actress)</span> Indian actress

Gopishantha, better known by her stage name Manorama, also called Aachi, was an Indian actress, comedian and playback singer who had appeared in more than 1000 films and 5000 stage performances predomninantely in the Tamil and also in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Sinhala. She was honoured with Kalaimamani award in 1995. In 2002, Government of India awarded Manorama the Padma Shri for her contribution to the arts. She is a recipient of one National Film Award, one Filmfare Award South and seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keening</span> Vocal lament for the dead

Keening is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition, known to have taken place in Ireland and Scotland. Keening, which can be seen as a form of sean-nós singing, is performed in the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swarnalatha</span> Indian singer

Swarnalatha was an Indian playback singer. In a career spanning almost 22 years, she recorded over 10,000 songs in many Indian languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, and Badaga. Her beautiful voice is the reason behind her title “Queen of Tones In India”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. Susheela</span> Indian singer (born 1935)

Pulapaka Suseela is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Telugu cinema for over six decades and is referred to as the "Evergreen Nightingale of Indian cinema". She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film and devotional songs across South Indian languages.

<i>Aasai</i> 1995 film directed by Vasanth

Aasai (transl. Desire) is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film, written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar and debutant Suvaluxmi, with Prakash Raj, Rohini, Poornam Viswanathan, Nizhalgal Ravi, and Vadivelu in roles. It revolves around an army major lusting for his sister-in-law, and attempting to ruin her relationship with her lover.

{{Infobox person | name = Chinmayi Sripada | image = Chinmayi Sripada.JPG | caption = Chinmayi Sripada | birth_name = Chinmayi Sripada | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Chennai, Tamil Nadu], India

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional mourning</span> Mourning in exchange for money

Professional mourning or paid mourning is an occupation that originates from Egyptian, Chinese, Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures. Professional mourners, also called moirologists and mutes, are compensated to lament or deliver a eulogy and help comfort and entertain the grieving family. Mentioned in the Bible and other religious texts, the occupation is widely invoked and explored in literature, from the Ugaritic epics of early centuries BC to modern poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. Leela</span> Indian playback singer

Porayath Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist, and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia, Gujarati, Marati. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers v.Dakshinamoorthy, MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, K. Raghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA chithambara athletes, AT ummer, MK Arjun, Johnson, ouseppachan, ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. Leela is known for her sweet and melodious voice that she named Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006. She made her debut as a playback singer in the 1948 Tamil film Kangkanam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deepa Miriam</span> Indian playback singer

Deepa Miriam is an Indian playback singer of South Indian movies. Her debut film was Naan Avanillai. Deepa rose to fame with the song Kangal Iraandal in the Tamil movie Subramaniapuram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vajtim</span> Albanian dirge or lamentation of the dead

Vajtim or Gjëmë is the dirge or lamentation of the dead in the Albanian custom by a group of men or a woman or a group of women. Traditional lamentations have now almost become extinct both in the Islamic and Christian Albanian population, except in some parts of Northern Albania and Kosovo as well as in parts of North Macedonia such as Zajas and Upper Reka, where they exist in a very diminished form. The earliest figurative representations of this practice in traditional Albanian-inhabited regions appear on Dardanian funerary stelae of classical antiquity.

<i>Bombay</i> (soundtrack) 1994 soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman

Bombay is the soundtrack to the 1995 Indian film of the same name, with eight tracks composed by A. R. Rahman. The film was directed by Mani Ratnam, and stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, while the soundtrack album was released on 24 December 1994 by Pyramid. The Indian film was originally a Tamil film dubbed into Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. The soundtrack was thus released in multiple languages. The lyrics for the Tamil version were written by Vairamuthu, except for the song "Halla Gulla", which was written by Vaali. The lyrics for the Hindi and Telugu versions were written by Mehboob and Veturi, respectively.

Kalyani Nair is a singer from Chennai, India. She is active in the Tamil cinema industry, Kollywood. As a schoolgirl, Kalyani first appeared on Television in an episode of Symphony on Kairali TV. One of her popular songs is Dora Dora Anbe Dora, from the movie Maasilamani where she sang the duet with Balram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surmukhi Raman</span> Indian playback singer

Surmukhi Raman, born on 15 September 1983 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu is an Indian playback singer from Tamil Nadu. She was brought up in Pune, Maharashtra. She occasionally writes lyrics. She is one of the emerging playback singers in South India. She has done playback for more than 150 film songs in four languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. In addition, she has recorded a number of devotionals. She has performed in numerous concerts in India and abroad.

<i>Sethum Aayiram Pon</i> 2019 Tamil film

Sethum Ayiram Pon: Roots is a 2019 Tamil-language drama film directed by Anand Ravichandran in his directorial debut. The film stars Srilekha Rajendran, Nivedhithaa Sathish, and Avinash Raghudevan in the lead roles. The film was released directly through online streaming services after showing in select film festivals.

<i>Karnan</i> (soundtrack) 2021 film score by Santhosh Narayanan

Karnan is the soundtrack album for the 2021 Indian film of the same name, directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu. The film features music composed by Santhosh Narayanan with lyrics written by Yugabharathi and Mari Selvaraj.

References

  1. ↑ "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now". 2016-07-31.
  2. ↑ "Oppari, Kummi come alive in performing the dirge". Archived from the original on December 8, 2016.
  3. ↑ "EOL 5: Weeping - 2. Cultural Perspectives (Greene)". www.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  4. ↑ "This funeral singer will leave you in tears - Rediff.com India News". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  5. ↑ Nath, Dipanita (31 July 2016). "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now". The Indian Express . Retrieved 9 December 2016.


Musical notes.svg

This article about a music genre is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.