“Keeping our family tales around and alive” - LoreKeepers – The custodians of oral narratives and local folklore By Aishwarya Lakshmi

It’s often within the stories they told, the songs they sang or danced around lay the rich traditions of a place highlighting the everyday experience of those who witnessed them. Carefully reading between the tales of folklore, one can look into the life and times of the practices and their influences that shape society, often neglected as old and boring. Folklore is not just an indigenous tale of the land but a communal identity for people who lived within these lands imbibing nature into their livelihood. They are stories of association, stories of memories, and for some communities they are the stories of oppression and suffering.

“If there is an old tradition, enriching folklore, and a mobile camera; you have an interesting lore to listen to and capture– You are the curator of a rich folk tale, a lore keeper of an oral tradition that’s probably vanishing soon,” says Sruthin Lal, the Executive Director, Archival and Research Project (ARPO), a non-profit which undertakes the LoreKeepers initiative. With a mission to collect and preserve oral narratives, LoreKeepers have embarked on a journey to bring these forgotten folklores into light and voice the suppressed communities who have been muted for decades, fading behind the conflicts of caste superiority and local politics.

A rather interesting conversation over the phone with Sruthin unfolded some interesting facts about the project, its purpose, and its vision and mission to preserve this intangible heritage.


How did the LoreKeepers come into the picture?

Sruthin: Kerala’s rich culture and traditions are centuries old and have interesting rituals which talk about our people’s relationship with the land and their love for nature. Our folklore is spread over a diverse landscape, that sometimes finds ways to live for years and sometimes it doesn’t. With social strata playing an important role in its revival or denial, there is a need to conserve these practices before they are lost forever. That is where we come into the picture. LoreKeepers aims to bring these vanishing traditions into light and hand them to the present generation for safekeeping. We strongly believe in these lores are torchbearers of a rich legacy of history, culture, and emotions.

How do you collect these lores?

Sruthin: We digitally archive these lores through multimedia, community engagement, research, and multimedia. Our team also works with the local schools and communities to document these lores and send them to us. We have a curated collection that can be accessed by anyone interested to know about these tales and experiences.


Your lores seem to have a unique story. Would you like to share a few?

Sruthin: Our work focused on collecting, preserving, and promoting the traditional lore that can take any shape- songs, riddles, stories, myths, legends, and so on. We primarily concentrate on interacting with historically marginalized groups like the Dalit communities, who were never allowed to formally record their tales and hence started passing them on orally, which began fading away due to a lack of awareness and interest.

When we documented the folk songs of an indigenous community called Kattu Naykkar, we realized their songs were knowledge troves. Their lores spoke to its listeners about hunting practices and techniques, the best hunting seasons, different kinds of flora in the forest, the dos and don’ts of cooking and eating a wild animal, and so on. Even the most advanced research does not give us such intricate and important details that this community folklore does.

Balikkala by the Malayar community in Northern Calicut is a unique ritual where the community members are called by other communities, especially upper castes, to bless them with health and wealth. The community members decorate the front porch of a house with colored kolams (rangolis), evoke gods through songs, and ask them to bless the family with prosperity. We were able to make the community perform the ritual for digital archiving after a gap of 40 years.

Why is it important to collect these lores?

Sruthin: In today’s world of homogeneity and cultural crisis, these lores serve as a way to preserve and promote the local traditions of different communities. For many marginalized communities, these songs and stories are a way of expressing their livelihoods, hardships, and suffering. Our native folklore is not some art form that can be hung on gallery walls, it is a living breathing practice to which generations have dedicated their lives and times. Hence, it is very important to keep them intact and pass them on to the next generation for they have valuable lessons that are valid even to date.

Are LoreKeepers making a difference in the community and culture?

Sruthin: Of course, we are! Our project and the stories we collected are testimonies to it. We have had multiple experiences where reviving these lores and documenting them has not just given us exposure to these exclusive stories but helped the communities to understand the importance of it and how their lives have been entangled with it. It’s a mutual exchange of knowledge and experiences.

 Take the case of  Balikkala. The tradition is nearing extinction for the last performance in its fullest form was 40 years ago. While the older generations still sing these songs, their kids don’t seem to understand them nor make an attempt to ask or learn about them. When we wanted to document them, we invited Mr. Chandu Panikkar one of the last custodians to perform the lore and his recital managed to gather a curious crowd. The local authorities visited and congratulated him for his performance which left him very emotional to sing the lore after a long time. While ancestors of these communities have dedicated their lives to this art, their successors don’t even know its importance.

There is another example. We met Balakrishnan from the Pulaya community (one of the most oppressed communities in Kerala during feudal times) who until 4 years ago would perform Kolkkali – a folk group dance form of his community. He was paralyzed after a stroke and when Covid hit, was stuck to his bed due to lockdown and restrictions. When we requested him to sing a few lores to record for the archive, he was extremely happy. Before he realized, he was up from his bed singing and dancing. His family was shocked and emotional to see him get back to his old self all active and energetic.

Most of your lores come from Kerala. Do you wish to expand to other states as well?

Sruthin: At present, we are concentrating on collecting stories from the Northern regions of Kerala and working on a prototype or a feasible model that can be taken forward in the upcoming phases. We do have plans to expand our archiving around Kerala and other states. 

We also have community engagement programs where we train local school students to collect these lores and organize workshops and seminars to bring in the natives to interact with younger ones and transfer their knowledge making them the next generation LoreKeepers. We conduct rural and district-level camps as a part of our archival program to bring these communities together and share their stories.

How can one be a lore keeper?

Sruthin: It’s very easy. If you come across interesting lore, all you have to do is take your mobile phone and shoot it and mail it to us. We will archive them and post them on our website for public access.


And finally, who are Lore Keepers?

Sruthin: That’s an interesting question I’m often asked! Anyone can be a lore keeper. All it takes is a small step towards respecting your heritage and help in preserving it. We are on the brink of cultural collapse and I strongly feel if we don’t take the right measures, our legacy will be gone forever. We work towards filling out a cultural picture by presenting a variety of lesser-discussed topics in tune, if your idea resonated with us, then Welcome Aboard! You are a LORE KEEPER!

The LoreKeepers believe the world would be amazed by their expanding archive of stories and songs. For more details visit their website https://www.arpo.in/lorekeepers

Pictures courtesy: Team LoreKeepers

References:

 

FAQs

 

1.       What is Lore Keepers's initiative?

 

Ans: Lore Keepers are a collective, gathering and documenting folklore in Kerala. It is a project founded in 2o21 by APRO and supported by the Faizal & Shabana Foundation. Based out of Kerala, they engage in digital archiving, multimedia storytelling, research, community engagement, and interventions to preserve and promote the cultural heritage. Their areas of interest include local histories, art, architecture, culture, and folklore.

 

2.      Who heads the LoreKeepers Initiative?

 

Ans: Sruthin Lal

 

3.      What is the key role of the initiative?

 

Ans: Their key role is to make lesser-discussed cultural knowledge accessible by identifying subjects and engaging with them through creative cultural and social projects.

 

 

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