Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Toolkit Toolkit Final as of 17082016 | Page 33

Preservation of Tamil Cultural Elements
Author: Ms. Vellie Nila
Background
Culture is the characteristic features of everyday
existence shared by people in a place or time.
(Merriam Webster) Culture consists of many elements,
which have been grouped into seven categories as
shown below.
Economic
System
Religion
Performing Arts
• The history of Sangam Tamil states the importance given to
“Iyal” (Poetry), “Isai” (Music) and “Naadagam” (Drama)
(Jesudoss, 2009).
• Drama which had also been known as koothu consisted of
dance-like movements which presented a story. Eventually,
koothu branched out as two different art forms, dance and
drama.
Social
Organisation
Language
Elements
of Culture
Forms of
Government
•
Arts and
Literature
Customs
and
tradition
Out of the 7 cultural elements, this write-up will focus
on two of the cultural elements; Language and Arts and
Literature.
Language
Arts and
Literature
• Allows people within a
• Performing
community to communicate
Arts such as
effectively.
dance, music
• Reflection of many aspects of
and theatre.
culture e.g. The availability of • Written
different terms for different
literature such
types of snow in the arctic
as poems and
regions.
stories.
• Language families show the
• Visual arts
migration path and
such as
movement of the speakers.
painting and
• Creation of languages: Creole,
sculpting.
Esperanto
•
•
•
•
•
Even though branching from the same source, dance and mainly
Bharatanatyam succeeded in gaining fame as compared to
drama which had been overshadowed by the emerging movie
industry in the 1960s. With the introduction of television shows,
this art had started to fade. (Radhakrishnan, 2002)
In Singapore, drama has flourished with the gaining interest of
youths in local theatre production. Moving away from
traditional koothu, Singaporean Tamil theatre provides an array
of experimental theatre productions ranging from Un-able, a
haunted trail to Pathey Nimidam where western theatre
techniques have been infused to provide a new angle to the art.
Interactive dramas are put up for children. Historical dramas
such as Murasu and Vikraman are staged for the history fanatics
and the general public.
Drama competitions such as Arangam also encourage students
to take part and engage with the theatre community.
The presence of critic websites such as The Guru Project and
ChutneySG who write about the pros and cons of local theatre
productions has made space for improvement in the theatre
scene.
Alongside the theatre practitioners, and the increasing number
of theatre enthusiasts, the National Arts Council’s art funds
continue to provide a huge support for the theatre scene in
Singapore.
Visual Arts
Written literature
• The Sangam Tamil kings valued their poets and
some were well-known poets themselves
(Arimpoor, 1982).
• Literature had been a prized possession of the
Sangam Tamils.
• Tamil literature had evolved along with changing
times as and when needed.
• In the current times, we read Tamil literature in the
form of novels, short stories and poems.
• These literature works differ among the different
Tamil diasporic communities.
• For example, Singapore has its own literature scene
where Tamil literary works are being published and
reviewed time to time. However, due to the limited
number of books being printed, these books may
not reach the wider literary audience around the
world.
•
•
•
The Tamils are also well-known for their art and
architecture.
The Tanjore temple’s structure and statues and
Chithanavasal’s paintings stand as a living proof of the
Tamils’ artistic nuances.
The well preserved temples in India and other parts of the
world also flaunt the Tamilian architectural knowledge
(The Hindu, 2009).
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