Sopanasangeetham - Divine Song


   What is Sopanasangeetham?

Sopana is traditionally the steps to the temple’s sacred shrine and sangeetham means music. 

Sopanasangeetham was thus born in the temples as an offshoot of Indian classical music to evoke Ashtapadis (8 line hymns) of 12th century bhakti poet Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda that celebrate Lord Krishna and Radha’s love

Sung near the steps to the inner sanctum, in keeping with the idea of pure simple devotion to the deity, Sopanasangeetham is shorn of traditional classical music traditions of microtones and flourishes. It follows the time honour code of ragas that unfold as per the phases of a day and often accompany the Kalam - the pictorial evocation of the deity usually Goddess Kali. 

So eventually, it moved out of the temples to homes and courtyards and eventually became the music for kathakali, krishnattam and ashtapadiyattam dance forms

Learning Centre
  
    Sopanam Kalavedi & Research Centre at Kudamaloor

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