‘Thallumaala’, Muslim HipHop and ‘Mappila Cool’ in Kerala

Abstract

In this context, my paper tries to argue that we need to pay attention to the
razzle-dazzle of Thallumaala’s sartorial and musical choices, as they are trying to say
something important. “How to be hip and Muslim” or “how to be part of a transformative
moment while retaining one’s identity” have been instrumental questions for Muslim
hip-hop. The themes they engage with are quotidian – love, heartbreak, revenge etc.
However, the vocabulary used to express these themes are uniquely Mappila. Besides
the dialogues being in the specific dialect spoken by Mappilas of north Kerala, the terms
contained in the songs are also taken from the universe that is unique to Mappila culture
and history, or shall we say, ‘Mappila-verse’? Starting from the very name of the film, it
uses the socio-religious and traditional soundscape of Malabar and Malappuram in a
great way. It showcases how this “Mappila-ness” reflects what Sebastian Prange (2018)
calls ‘Monsoon Islam’, i.e., the kind of Islam that developed along the Indian Ocean in
between the 12th and 16th centuries, combining the Arabic and Sanskrit cosmopolis,
and through the interactions of Arab maritime traders and the local population.
‘Mappila Cool’ offers a new repertoire of resistance and an avenue to launch the ‘new
Mappila modern’. The world created by Thallumaala is antithetical to the narrative within
which the hegemonic discourse tries to box Malappuram and Muslims in, and raises the
question: what does it mean to be Muslim, Mappila, and cool?