Poongani amma, the oldest living villupaattu performer with more than 50 years of experience in the art form, passed away on Friday November 2, after her deteriorating health condition. The 84-year-old artist was living all by herself in a small village of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu.
Poongani, fondly known as Poongani amma, was the third ever woman to take up the art form. She came to limelight earlier this year when an award-winning rapper Lady Kash from Singapore, made a song titled ‘Villupaattu’ in honour of Poongani amma.
Watch the Lady Kash’s video here
Villupaattu, which literally translates to ‘bow song’, is a Tamil folk music form, mainly performed in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of the state. It is a form of musical story-telling using the bow as the primary instrument. The uniqueness of this art form is the presence of ‘villu’, a bow whose string is struck while singing. Over the last few years, it has seen a decline, with very few practitioners remaining in the state.
Poongani amma gave her last performance at the age of seventy
“With the effects of old age setting in, I decided to stop performing. The decision wasn’t a matter of choice. It was a matter of necessity. With no one to support me, I had to retire to a life of mere existence,” said Poongani amma, the lone survivor of her family. With no one to take care of her, Poongani amma lately lived all by herself, solely dependent on the government’s meagre pension of 1000 rupees a month to take care of her needs.
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Poongani amma never received any State Honour (Kalaimamani award) usually bestowed upon such artists, citing lack of record of her performances. In 2015, the department of journalism and communication, Madras University, who went to meet her at her home, feted Poongani with the Om Muthu Mari Award.
The award was instituted in the name of Om Muthu Mari, a veteran folk theatre artist who was also not recognised in his lifetime.
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