This Is A Music! Reclaiming an Untouchable Dream

Directed and narrated by Zoe Sherinian. 2011. 74 minutes. Optional Indian-English Subtitles.

Study areas: Dalit, caste, drumming, social movements, Hinduism, Christianity, Tamil Nadu

Throughout much of India, lower caste, often untouchable musicians, provide the music for a variety of religious events, including festivals in honor of the goddess Mariamman and the god Murugan, and sometimes the Virgin Mary. One such group in Tamil Nadu is the Paraiyar frame drummers who were also known for playing music for funerals. Although according to local legend, the Paraiyar originally worked for kings and their drums were used to make announcements for the king and for leading his armies into battle, today they are considered untouchable due both to their playing at funerals and to the leather used in the drum itself. Both the leather drum and the funeral are considered polluting, contributing to their untouchable status. Together with their dismal economic status, the Paraiyar have had no choice but to continue to drum as required by the hereditary social relations found in many Indian villages. Socially outcast, literally not touchable by those of higher caste, they live in separate hamlets and were banned from wearing shirts, putting an honorific towel over their shoulder, or even donning sandals, as noted by a Christian minister who was from an untouchable group. Speaking of his mother’s request that he take off his shoes while in his home village in order to avoid high caste retribution due to breaking the rules, he stated, “We feel humiliated.”

Most castes in India have certain duties, or occupations,  that are hereditary and thought to be essential for the working of society. The Paraiyar’s work was and is playing the drum, and they were often treated as slaves, at the beck and call of the landlords and higher castes. Although some have been able to parlay their new recognition as drummers into better jobs, even today, the drum is thought essential for sending the soul of the dead to heaven and for bringing about possession by a deity. Hence the Paraiyar drummer remains essential in Tamil life. The drummers’ only recourse to demands that they perform is to insist on payment prior to performing, rather than hoping for handouts after, although the drummers’ preferences are to play only at auspicious events such as temple festivals where their drum calls are essential to luring the deity out of his/her inner sanctum. (It is common for the deity to come out for a “walk” once a year, during which time possessions also take place.)

Starting in the 1980s, untouchable social movements , following on the influence of the Dalit leader Dr. Ambedkar, changed the terminology of ‘untouchable’ to Dalit, meaning ‘oppressed’. In Tamil Nadu, unions, often associated with the Communist Party, and the Christian church have been important agents in helping the Paraiyar drummers to reframe their identities, both psychologically and socially. One result is that many no longer refer to their performance group as parai, but as ‘drum-set’, a term that reflects their own visions of their changing social status.

This extraordinary film explores the history of one such group of nine musicians who are able to take their music out of the village ritual settings and into the urban arena of Chennai elites, and in the process begin to claim an identity that transforms both psychologically and socially beyond  the untouchability imposed upon them in their rural settings. Speaking of some who still disdain them, one remarks, “they don’t even know how to cross [the city] of Madurai, but we have travelled across India.” Some drum-sets have even traveled abroad.

Ethnomusicologist Zoe Sherinian, who teaches at the University of Oklahoma, worked with the parai drummers and learned to play with them. A 10-15 minute segment of the film goes into their drumming patterns in some detail with emphasis on the unity demanded of the group, both in playing and in internal organization (everyone receives an equal payment at any performance). For those seeking a shorter version of the film, this section is one that could be cut in showing. Nevertheless, the music itself is compelling.

In its later minutes, the film follows the group to Chennai in 2008 where they play at a variety of venues for over a week, along with some 1700 other folk artists. Here they came into contact with a number of other drum-sets. They were also well-treated, being given three meals a day with meat (as noted by one joyful drummer). Moreover, their relatives see them on TV, clearly bringing a sense of change in their own psychological identities. Some even seek to reclaim the name parai. That their music could gain the respect of the elite, leading, as one drummer noted, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu to sit ‘below’ the stage (and hence below these untouchables), was a potent psychological event.

Although this film demonstrates that caste and caste relationships are changing, caste is nevertheless still clearly entrenched in rural society. The drummers are still not able to eat everywhere, be hosted with grace, or often join higher castes in their seating areas. Events such as the Chennai Sangam in 2008 make a difference, but only if repeated year after year. Without that elite support, the possibility of being forced back into untouchable status is always present. Throughout India, there are regular reports of caste violence often by the high castes against uppity Dalits or lower castes, a possibility in Tamil Nadu as well. But in the short term, the new audiences and status are to be lauded.

At 74 minutes, the film is too long for most class periods, requiring that either a portion be shown or that two class periods be devoted to it. Many instructors in related fields such as religion and anthropology might be reluctant to devote this much time to the topic. A 50 minute version of the film would be welcomed by many, who otherwise will have to choose which sections to cut. Nevertheless, it is a compelling story of a social movement that seeks to transform the cultural violence that is based in south Indian ideas of music and religion. As the film’s closing minutes note, the drummers are now teaching their children to play the drum, something they were reluctant to do prior to their Chennai trip.

Susan S. Wadley is the Ford Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies at Syracuse University where she teaches courses on Modern South Asia, Oral Traditions of India, and more. Author of Struggling with Destiny in Karimpur (1994) and Raja Nal and the Goddess in the North Indian Oral Epic Dhola (2004) amongst other writings covering her some 40 years of research in India.

Last Updated: October 21, 2013