Fugudo, a dance form of Kerala’ Kudumbi group, practised in and around Kochi, is on the path of revival

R Sadanandan, 62 remembers not being allowed to observe Fugudo, a conventional dance, of his Kudumbi group. The retired worker of the District Court, Ernakulam, says, “We kids would be shooed away if we attempted to watch the Fugudo performances put up by the grown-ups. And by the time I was ‘old’ enough, it was not staged as often as it was back in the day. Certain songs were supposedly suggestive, laden with sexual innuendo!” 

We are sitting at his home at Thundiparambu close to Cherlai, Fort Kochi. His spouse, Mayadevi PS, listens intently as Sadanandan unpacks his recollections of Fugudo . The couple is amongst a handful of folks trying to maintain the dance form alive, practised in the coastal areas around Kochi together with Pizhala, Kadamakkudy, Varapuzha, North Paravur, Kodungallur, and Poya amongst others, the place the Kudumbi group set down roots. While Sadanandan is half of the crew that sings, Mayadevi does each.  

The Sri Kurumba Konkani Kala Samskarika Vedi is working in direction of sustaining the tradition and language of the group in the space and Fugudo is one of the essential gadgets on the agenda. “Although I knew about it, via my husband, I had never seen it performed. My family is from Tripunithura and it wasn’t done there,” says Mayadevi, an worker of the Forest Department. “After coming to Kochi (Fort Kochi) is when I heard about it. But by then very few people were practising it, our way of life was also changing,” she says.

As the group tailored to life away from house, holding on to cultural markers of house turned essential and Fugudo was one such. Over time assimilation demanded marginalisation of these markers and Fugudo met the similar destiny. “There are very few people who know it and those who do have aged and cannot perform. It has been an uphill task finding the songs but we are working on it,” provides Sadanandan.

Not a performative artwork form

Although males and ladies used to do the Fugudo collectively, the Kurumba Samskarika Vedi is principally an only-women group with a couple of males in supporting roles as singers. It is not performative, there aren’t any difficult steps with the dancers shifting rhythmically in a circle or semi circle. “Back in the day, it is believed people used to go into a trance-like state or were possessed when they did the Fugudo and people chewed pan to avoid that,” Mayadevi, 56 provides. The costume is the sari tied like the conventional ‘gusali’, again to entrance.     

A quantity of Kudumbi folks (also referred to as Kurumbi in Kerala and Kunbi in Goa) left their house in Goa, with different Konkani-speaking communities, in the interval from the sixteenth century, to flee non secular persecution at the fingers of the Portuguese. They made their strategy to the coastal areas of the Western Ghats — Karnataka and Kerala — and set down their roots. They got here to Kerala and continued their approach of life right here. They are believed to have introduced climate-resistant Pokkali farming to Kerala, and are one of the communities that observe it. They additionally into prawn farming. 

“Fugudo is a version of Fugudi performed by the Kunbis in Goa. Obviously the move from Goa caused the disconnect; the name is a corruption of the original. Fugudo would have some steps of the original. Fugudi, today, is different — it has more Portuguese —inspired steps and Flamenco-like spins, we don’t have those,” says Mayadevi. Her foray into Fugudo occurred by likelihood when there was an enquiry about it from a movie crew in 2019. Though the venture was shelved, Fugudo received one other likelihood.  

Waning curiosity in Fugudo

“The number of people performing had shrunk, but there were old-timers around here from whom we learnt the steps and the songs. The younger lot are not interested, we hope to attract a few of them so that we can keep our tradition alive,” says Mayadevi. Kudumbis are primarily farmers, and Fugudo is vital as a dance form associated to farming or harvest and their social life in addition to a form of group constructing. 

Mayadevi and Sadanandan
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT

She provides, “The dance was mainly performed on the days after Sivaratri, there is an element of devotion around it. However, it was also done as a form of relaxation after a day’s hard work, I have heard. Another, very different version is performed as part of the function after a woman delivers a baby. The songs sung for functions such as this and wedding ceremonies are different from those for Fugudo.” 

Referring to the sexual innuendo in the songs, she factors out, “Perhaps, because as a farming community, fertility of the soil was important, there was a certain degree of that and even descriptions of a woman’s physical attributes.” The songs that they carry out to at present have been ‘sanitised’ to some extent. “When we practice, some of the women ask to take out some lines. Sometimes the innuendo escapes me!” she provides laughing. 

Today Fugudo is ‘performed’ as half of cultural programmes to maintain it alive, “We cannot afford to be insulated now, we need to move into performance spaces,” Mayadevi says.  The troupe contains 16-odd members, all from the Kudumbi group, principally ladies, a couple of males (who present the vocals) and a few kids.

“Fugudo belongs to our community, it is part of our heritage,” Mayadevi reiterates in response to a query about different communities performing Fugudo.