Fr. Abel Periyappuram, C.M.I.
ഫാദർ ആബേൽ പെരിയപ്പുറം , സി. എം. ഐ.Call Number : PER-01
Poet, Lyricist and pioneer in commercial releases of Christian devotional songs.
Creator of a Syriac Music Genre in Malayalam and Founder of Kalabhavan
Joseph J. Palackal, CMI
©2021 Joseph J. Palackal
Fr. Abel Periyappuram CMI
(1920-2001)
Photo Taken By K.S. Prasad
Abel Periyappuram (19 January 1920 – 27 October 2001, son of Periyappuram Mathan Mathew), commonly known as Fr. Abel CMI, was an Indian Catholic Priest of Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and a member of the Religious congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). Fr. Abel CMI was a journalist and lyricist, best known as the founding father of Kalabhavan, a centre for learning performing arts in Kochi, India. Periyappuram, with the help of K. K. Antony, a music teacher, and K. J. Yesudas, then a budding playback singer, started Kalabhavan as the Christian Arts Club to promote Christian music, in the year 1969. Soon, with the support of Archbishop Joseph Parecattil and the Archdiocese of Eranakulam, the Club was registered as Kalabhavan.
Llife, Education and CareerAbel Periyappuram was born on 19 January 1920 in Mulakulam village (near Piravom) as Mathew to Periyappuram Mathen Vaidyar and Aleyamma, as their fifth child. In the 1940s, he set out for pastoral studies at Mannanam, Thevara and Koonammavu. He later went to Mangalore and was ordained as a priest in 1951.
In 1952, he joined the Deepika Daily at Kottayam as a journalist. The next year, he left for Rome, where, from the Sapienza University of Rome, he took a Doctorate in Journalism and Political science. On returning to Kerala, he rejoined the Deepika Daily, where he worked as an assistant managing director, till 1961. During this time, he started writing lyrics and poetry. He was then entrusted with a job of a professor at St. Joseph's College, Devagiri. On the request of Joseph Cardinal Parecattil – the Arch bishop of Diocese of Ernakulam, Fr. Abel CMI, moved to Ernakulam to translate Christian prayer books from Syriac to Malayalam. This gave him the idea of writing original devotional songs in Malayalam. He penned the lyrics to numerous songs which were set to music by K. K. Antony and others. Their music was successful among the public as well as with the clergy. Kalabhavan was started in 1963 to train young artists in formal music education.
DeathFr. Abel CMI, died on 27 October 2001, at the age of 81 at Thodupuzha, following a cardiac arrest. He was laid to rest at St. Annes CMI Monastery at Kurianad, near Kuravilangad, Kerala.
Creator of a Syriac Music Genre in Malayalam
Joseph J. Palackal - Christian Musicological Society of India
Fr. Abel Periyappuaram, CMI (1920-2001), a Syro Malabar Catholic priest from Kerala who received no formal training in music during his formative years, became a pivotal figure in Kerala’s cultural history and Christian music history of India.
In 1965, Cardinal Joseph Parecattil (1912-1987), the head of the Syro Malabar Church commissioned Fr. Abel to create a Malayalam version of the funeral services and the Hudra (the book of canonical prayers) in Syriac. The commission came with a mission to retain the Syriac melodies already in use among the Syro Malabar Catholics. It meant that the translated text should be viable to the original Syriac melody. Fr. Abel relied on a liberal approach in representing the source text but took extreme care to make the target text pleasantly singable. Fr. Abel had to transfer the prosodic patterns and thought process that originated in a Semitic language to the target text, following Dravidian syntax rules, while retaining the structure of the Syriac melody. Fr. Abel accepted the challenge.
As a result, a set of old Syriac melodies, which would have become obsolete, resuscitated with Malayalam text and continue to be an integral part of the Syro Malabar Catholics’ religious experience. In the process, Fr. Abel mediated a cultural confluence in Kerala and reconnected India to the source of Christianity in West Asia.
Fr. Abel grew up in the Syriac tradition of the Syro Malabar Church. In those days, Syriac literacy was a requirement for becoming a priest. The seminarians learned to read and write the Syriac language during their formative years and used the Syriac Hudra for the Hours.
More importantly, Fr. Abel spent his formative years in the CMI congregation. The CMI culture greatly valued knowledge of the Syriac language and music. The CMIs took pride in preserving the "authentic" melodies of the East-Syriac Hudra.
Fr. Abel Periyapuram (1920-2001)
Birth : 19-1-1920 | Profession : 15-10-1942 | Ordination; 12-3-1951 | Death:27-10-2001 | Parish: Mulakulam | Burial: Kurianad
Fr. Abel Periyapuram was an artist, poet, and writer with a lot of creative initiatives. While working at Deepika, he conceived and started Deepika Children's League. In Rome, he had his higher studies in Journalism and Political Science. He taught for a short period at Devagiri College. At request of Cardinal Joseph Parekkattil, he went to Ernakulam and concentrated on Liturgical Music and in training people in music and musical instruments. As the founder of the Kochin Kalabhavan which contributed immensely to the cultural contour of the Kerala, he was known world over. Many actors, mimicry artists, instrumentalists, and singers had their initial training at this center, which became a launching pad for their career. His memory was perpetuated through his sonorous and musical hymns and the transalion of liturgical texts from Aramaic into beautiful Malayalam . He was an optimist and jovial by nature. Despite winning awards like Kerala Sabhatharam, AKCC Award, etc., he remained a humble religious and an active priest till the last minute. He passed away in 2001, and was buried at Kurianad.
KALABHAVAN : The House of Fine Arts.
Fr. Abel started in 1968 as Christian Arts Club in a small room in Kochi’s Broadway, with one harmonium, two fiddles, and three kids is today not only a towering presence in Kerala’s art landscape.
In 1969, the very next year, Kalabhavan came into existence as the formal, organized avataar of Christian Arts Club. Against struggles of various kinds, Kalabhavan grew under the patronage of Syro-Malabar Church’s head Cardinal Parecattil and Malayalam’s most celebrated singer KJ Yesudas. Soon Kalabhavan also branched out from its core expertise in music, to dancing, acting, and painting classes.
In the Kerala Catholic Church Fr. Abel, CMI, was a towering figure, having crafted much of its liturgy, including its songs, when the liturgical language was changed to Malayalam from Aramaic - Syriac. But in the state’s secular world, Fr. Abel had an equally impressive life, having created this art abode, Kalabhavan, that nurtures thousands of talents every year. Fr. Abel was originally an academician, having done his doctorate in Journalism & Politics from Rome International University, and having taught at Devagiri College, Kozhikode. But nothing could silence the humming within. Looking back, Kalabhavan’s success can largely be attributed to two philosophies that Fr. Abel taught and lived. Love art and serve art lovers, without any considerations like caste, creed, rich, or poor.
THE MESSAGE OF KALABHAVAN AS I KNOW IT
by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer
(Pdf Dowload)
യേശുദാസും കലാഭവനും
(1971-ൽ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ച യേശുദാസിന്റെ ശതാബ്ദി സ്മാരക പ്രസിദ്ധീകരണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് )
(Pdf Dowload)
Speaking and singing voice of Fr. Abel
| List of Syriac Chants from Qambel Māran - CD sung byFr. Abel Periyapuram | |||||||
| # | Track # | Aramaic Project Code | Syriac Chant |
Duration | Category | Encyclopedia Page of the Syriac chant CMSI Ref. No. |
Artist(s) |
| 1 | 11 | 009-4J | O dezdamman īnja O you who are invited | 1:32 | Raza | EC-0011 (101-0011) | Fr. Abel Periyappuram C.M.I. & Lonappan Arackal. Triangle: Lonappan Arackal |
| 2 | 14 | 009-4M | Qambel māran Accept, O Lord | 4:52 | Services for the Dead | EC-0014 (101-0014) | Fr. Abel Periyappuram C.M.I. (celebrant) |
| List of songs by Fr. Abel Periyapuram used for research by Dr. Joseph J. Palackal | |||
| # | Aramaic project Code | Description | Youtube Link |
| 1. | AP 011 (009-11) | Fr. Abel Periyapuram, C. M. I. sings Syriac melodies and their Malayalam translations from the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church for the research of Joseph J. Palackal. Recorded at Kalabhavan Studio in Dec 1997. Complete List of Aramaic Project 11 Segments (11.1 to 11.26) Note on Aramaic Project-11: Here is a sound testimony to a glorious past in the history of the Syro Malabar Church. Fr. Abel, who played a significant role in the transition of the Syriac liturgy into Malayalam, in the 1960s, sings the model melodies he chose for the liturgy of the Hours in Malayalam. Fr. Abel recorded these melodies in his own voice at my request. I wanted to study these melodies for my doctoral dissertation at the City University of New York (2005). Transcription of these model melodies is part of Chapter six in my doctoral dissertation. In this recording, we can hear his singing voice as well as is speaking voice in the Introduction. Fr. Abel transcribed the chant texts in Malayalam script. He also wrote a personal letter to me with his comments on the chants. We have posted the manuscript and the letter in the Resources of Researchers section on the web site of www.thecmsindia.org. See my note on 008-167. This recording and the manuscript are first-class relics from the past. They are unique treasures of the Syro Malabar Church and a great resource for researchers. Joseph J. Palackal, CMINew York 11 March 2020 |
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| 2. | AP 012 (009-12) | Fr. Abel Periyapuram, C. M. I. sings Syriac and Malayalam versions of melodies from the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church. Introduction by Joseph J. Palackal. Recorded on 22 July 1998 at ASA Music Productions in Mount Vernon, New York. | |
| 3. | AP 012a (009-12a) | Wita wangunnen. Fr. Abel CMI. funeral for priests "Witawangunnen." Fr. Abel sings his own (free) translation of the Syriac chant, "Etha pus lek" (farewell O church) from the Funeral services for priests in the Syro Malabar Church. |
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| 4. | AP 013 (009-13) | Fr. Abel Periyapuram, C. M. I. sings Malayalam version of model melodies from the liturgy of the Hours of the Syro-Malabar Church for the doctoral study of Joseph J. Palackal. Recorded at Fr. Abel's office at Kalabhavan, Kochi, Kerala on 23 Aug 2001. | |
| 5. | AP 014 (009-14) | Fr. Abel Periyapuram, C. M. I. sings chants from the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church. Recorded at Joseph J. Palackal's office in Maspeth, New York on 20 Sep 1997 during Fr. Abel's visit to U. S. A. Of special interest is the conversation between Fr. Abel and Joseph J. Palackal on the rhythmic aspects of these melodies. | |
| 6. | AP 253 | Fr. Abel's Voice. A Res Qala (Model Melody). Syriac and Malayalam versions. | |
Life of Christ
Christian Devotional Songs (Malayalam)
Category - Malayalam Christian Songs
CMSI Ref. Code - MA-MAL-011
Year - 1980
Original Format - L.P. Record
Music - K.K. Antony
Lyrics - Fr. Abel C. M I. / Samuel John
Singers - S. Janaki, Jolly Abraham, P. Madhuri, Ambili K.P. Brahmanandan, P.K. Manoharan, K.V. Karthikeyan
Christ The Saviour
Christian Devotional Songs (Malayalam)
Category -Malayalam Christian Songs
CMSI Ref. Code - MA-MAL-018
Original Format - L.P. Record
Music - K.K. Antony
Lyrics - Fr. Abel CMI, Ezhumangalam Karunakaran, Karinkunnam Chandran
Singers - Vani Jairam, Jolly Abraham, B.Vasantha, Shirin Peters, P.K.
Christian Devotional Songs
(Children Interest)
Category -Malayalam Christian Songs
(Children Interest)
CMSI Ref. Code - MA-MAL-012
Original Format - L.P. Record
Music - K.K. Antony
Lyrics - Fr. Abel CMI
Singers - B.Vasantha, Kumari Padmaja, Baby Sujatha, Baby Jency
