WHO IS SINGING THIS STORY?

This second instalment of my new blog also features a pretty straight forward question. Who sings the Ponnivala story? But the topic is important for those who do not know the origins of this legend already. This is a traditional oral epic with no written version that is anything like as extensive as is the full epic I tape recorded over 44 hours during a live set of village performances in 1965. There were two bards involved, one a senior singer of sixty plus years and the other an experienced assistant, about forty five years of age, who also knew the story well. The performance lasted for roughly two and a half hours a night for a full eighteen nights!

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