The thavil (Tamil:தவில்) or tavil is a barrel shaped percussion instrument from Tamilnadu. 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.
Batticaloa is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka and is a major commercial city. It is on the east coast, 111 kilometres (69 mi) south of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island. Pasikudah is popular tourist destinations situated 35 km northwest with beaches and flat year-round warm-water shallow-lagoons.
The idakka, also spelt edaykka/edakka, is an hourglass-shaped drum from Kerala in south India. This handy percussion instrument is very similar to the pan-Indian damaru. While the damaru is played by rattling knotted cords against the resonators, the idakka is played with a stick. Like the damaru, the idakka's pitch may be bent by squeezing the lacing in the middle. The idakka is slung over the left shoulder and the right side of the instrument is gently beaten with a thin curve-ended stick.
A melam is a type of percussion instrument that is unique to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of South India. Those who plays melam are called 'Melakaar'. In ancient Tamilakam melam was used for all the occasions in temples, marriages, functions, funeral wake(Parai Melam). In Kerala the most traditional of all melams is the Pandi Melam, which is generally performed outside the temple. Another melam called the Panchari Melam, which is similar to Pandi Melam, but the Panchari Melam is played inside the temple.
The Kombu (Tamil:கொம்பு) or Kompu also known as the Kombu Pattu is a wind instrument in Tamil nadu and Kerala. Usually played along with Panchavadyam, Pandi Melam, Panchari melam etc. This musical instrument is usually seen in south India. The instrument is like a long horn.
Mukkuvar is a caste found in the coastal regions of Sri Lanka and the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Operation Poomalai, also known as Eagle Mission 4, was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force to air-drop supplies over the besieged town of Jaffna in Sri Lanka on 4 June 1987 in support of Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Villu Paatu, also known as Villadichampaatu, is an ancient form of musical story-telling in India where narration is interspersed with music, an art of southern state of Kerala and Thovalai in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. This art form is popular among Nadar and Chettiar castes of erstwhile Travancore kingdom. Simple tunes and verses make the story to be followed easily. The villu (bow), the age-old weapon of warriors - paradoxically lends itself to be used as a primary musical instrument for the Villu Paatu artists.
Kankesanthurai, colloquially known as KKS, is a port suburb, fishing division and resort hub of the Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Formerly an electoral district, Kankesanthurai is home to the Kankesanthurai beach, Keerimalai Naguleswaram temple and the Maviddapuram Kandaswamy Temple. The port's harbour has served as an arrival and departure point for pilgrims since classical antiquity and is named after the Sri Lankan Tamil god Murukan. Kankesanthurai suburb has many fishing villages and Grama Niladhari and is a northern part of Valikamam, one of the three regions of ancient habitation on the Jaffna peninsula, located on the peninsula's northern coast, 12 miles from Jaffna city, 85 miles from Mannar and 155 miles from Trincomalee.
The urumi is a double-headed hourglass-shaped drum from the state of Tamil Nadu, South India. Two skin heads are attached to a single hollow, often intricately carved wooden shell. The preferred wood is jackwood, although other wood may be used. Both left and right heads are usually made from cow hide that is stretched around a thin metal ring. The outer circumference of each head is perforated with approximately seven to eight holes. The two heads are held in tension by a continuous rope that is woven around the drum in a V-shape pattern. Additional small coils of string or metal are tied around each pair of ropes near the left head. These coils can be slide horizontally along the length of the drum, increasing or decreasing the tension between the heads as necessary. For example, during the monsoon season the drum heads will slacken so much that the instrument becomes unplayable. Using these coils drummers can easily rectify such problems.
Nainativu, is a small but notable island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the folklore inhabitants, the Naga people. It is home to the Hindu shrine of Nagapooshani Amman Temple; one of the prominent 64 Shakti Peethas, and the Buddhist shrine Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya.
Mahalingam Kanagalingam Shivajilingam is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, provincial councillor and former Member of Parliament.
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most populous city. Jaffna is approximately six miles from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna Kingdom.
Sri Lankan Tamils in India mainly refer to Tamil people of Sri Lankan origin in India and non-resident Sri Lankan Tamil. They are partly who migrated to India and their descendants and mostly refugees from Sri Lanka because of the concluded Sri Lankan Civil War. In general socio economically they are living below poverty line, except few people who settled in India during early times, rich businessmen, and professionals. In Tamil Nadu they are also known as Ceylon Tamils or Jaffna Tamils.
The yazh is a harp used in ancient Tamil music which was the ancestor of modern-day veena. A closely related word yali refers to any structure, particularly front, that resembles the way the tip of stem of this instrument was carved into. The yazh was an open-stringed polyphonous instrument, with gut strings (narambu) with a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered resonator and an ebony stem.
Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.
Tamils in France refer to the citizens as well as expatriate residents of Tamil origin living in France. Over 100,000 Tamils from both India and Sri Lanka live in France. This is in addition to the Tamil community established in French overseas dominions of Réunion, Martinique, French Guiana etc.
The Jaffna Tamil dialect is a Tamil dialect that is native to the Jaffna Peninsula and it is also the primary dialect used in the entire North of Sri Lanka. The Jaffna Tamil dialect has very similar intonation to Malayalam and therefore it is sometimes mistaken for Malayalam, when it's heard spoken in Tamil Nadu. Although, audibly, quite distinct from the spoken Tamil dialects of Tamil Nadu, it nevertheless shares the same standard written Tamil as in Tamil Nadu. If anything one could argue that the formal/ written Tamil is somewhat based on the Jaffna Tamil dialect as it was formulated and pioneered by the Jaffna Hindu Pundit Arumuga Navalar. He was much celebrated as the father of modern Tamil prose.
