The Maldives is a lively entertainment and resort hotspot; visitors are always guaranteed a memorable experience when they descend on the islands on silver wings. The islands are dotted with a range of Maldives luxury resorts designed to cater to world-class stays, and a fine Maldives resort is the Cocoa Island Maldives that serves up a stylish array of modern accommodation and pampering perfect for leisure and business visits. Some of the local attractions are created to get the feet tapping, the hips swaying and the heart beating to the rhythm of the islands, in the form of the spirited Bodu Beru music. Similar to the songs and dances featured in eastern and southwestern Africa, the music was introduced to the Maldives by sailors frequenting the Indian Ocean region, most probably in the 11 century AD, if not earlier. A bodu beru performance incorporates a large band of about 20 people, including three skilled drummers and a fantastic lead crooner. The orchestra that accompanies the outfit is a small bell, a drum set known as a bodu beru and an onugandu, which is a piece of bamboo sporting horizontal grooves that sings a raspy song when scraped. Thematically, the songs featured can be epic tales of heroism, romantic ballads, or animated satire. The tempo of the song starts out slow, but when it reaches the crescendo, a dancer or two maintains the beat with their wild motions, which are sometimes carried away into an ecstatic trance-like state. Bodu Beru music evolved on the islands as an alternative to the stately music played at the royal courts, and it became a music of the masses. In its heyday, the lyrics were mainly nonsensical, but modern adaptations have seen the composition of bodu beru songs in the local Dhivehi language for a truly exciting local cultural performance art.
|| Angela Fernando is an impassioned travel writer who composes pieces under the pen name Sumaira Narayan. She loves writing about new and exciting places around the world and intends to visit them all someday. || Google+ ||
