Kundul Kyamo, a Kodava album, talks about the harsh realities of life with a light-hearted undertone

Back in the earlier days, going to a gig meant listening to ‘wandering sadhus’ sitting around the biggest tree in the village, who would convey socially relevant messages through songs. The closest the current generation has got to this is listening to folklore from their grandparents, usually when they are trying to put the kids to sleep. A 37-year-old journalist from Bengaluru, Boppanda Jeffrey Aiyappa has tried doing the same, by releasing an album in Kodava Takk (Spoken by Kodavas/people from Coorg).

Kundul Kyamo (meaning The Barking Deer in the Hill) is an 8-track album that was released on the 12th of this month at the Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy (KKSA) event held in Mysuru.

What makes the album standout is that Aiyappa, who has also penned 7 songs of the album, talks about the harsh realities in today’s society, but in a rather funny way. The album is a compilation of several genres such as parody, romance and devotional. The album starts off with a devotional song dedicated to goddess Bhagavathi Devi and the rest is mostly a fun-fest. “The title track Kundul Kyamo is about a man called Choma hunting Barking

Deer and how his associate snitches on him to the cops because he didn’t get a large share of meat. Aiynga Boys (sung by Chaitra Nanaiah) is about gender hypocrisy where a girl is judged (character assassination) if she is friends with a couple of boys, but it’s not the same with boys,” says Aiyappa. The album talks about the taboos that exist in society, whilst giving out a positive message such as don’t hunt, don’t judge in haste etc.

Aiyappa, who has been singing since he was in school, has always had the fascination to write his songs. His tryst with events and functions made him a hit among the local crowd and they used to request him for his songs. It was in 2011 when he decided to release an album called Bengaluru Bavo. Though the album fared pretty decently in terms of sales, songs like Cheriya Manelu Ippuliya from the album tasted success only 4 years later, thanks to people sharing on social media and whatsapp. The song was also played at the Madikeri Dussera. Post the success of Bengaluru Bravo, Aiyappa started working on his second album last April, after he was encouraged by Biddatanda S Thammaiya, president of KKSA. Aiyappa started working on the album recently, although he had written the songs way back. After work he would sit for a couple of hours late in the night and work in his bedroom studio using synthesizers, software, which was later worked upon in the studio as well. 1000 copies of Kundul Kyamo were made and it is on the verge of being sold out within just 15 days of its release, and this is a record of sorts in the Kodava music scene.

Taking a cue from his first album, which gained popularity on social media, Aiyappa released a teaser, of what the stories in the songs would be about, on YouTube and social media “that went viral in the Kodava circles, so much so that I got about 20 forwards of my own teaser, without people realising that it was me who made it,” he says. Aiyappa’s story is a textbook example of how, if encouraged by people, artists can go to great distances, considering the fact that he released an album in Kodava Takk, a language not spoken by many.

“The generation that was born after the 90s are the ones who have shown great interest in my music. People from our generation or the older ones are like ‘ok he is a singer, good for him’. I have got phone calls from parents of kids who tell that they purchased the album because their kids nagged them to,” Aiyappa says. Well, Kudos to Aiyappa for taking a leap of faith and proving a point. Probably with more support and encouragement we can look at artists taking songs of our regional languages mainstream as well.

Kundul Kyamo Available at Coorg Stores near Kodava Samaja and at Kodava Samaja Club

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Columns> Sunday Read / by Prashanth Vidyasagar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / March 27th, 2016