Duffmuttu with Koya Kappad at Artiko.tales in Fort Kochi [Oct 11]
The frame-drum performance of Malabar’s Mappila Muslims, one Sunday in Jew Town — Koya Kappad at Artiko.tales, 11 October. The time has not been announced; ask on +91 7594 987928.
Published 7 October 2026
Upcoming
- Dates
- 11 October 2026
- Performer
- Koya Kappad
- Organiser
- Friends of Thudippu
- Booking
- Book a place
Where
Artiko.tales
Art gallery · Jew Town Road, Mattancherry
Friends of Thudippu, the series that brought a Chavittunadakam workshop to Artiko.tales in September, is back in Jew Town on Sunday 11 October with Duffmuttu, performed by Koya Kappad and his team.
The organisers introduce it as a rhythm that travelled across the Arabian Sea from Turkey to Kerala, carrying stories, traditions and a cultural legacy with it.
The Details
Date: Sunday 11 October 2026
Time: not announced yet.
Venue: Artiko.tales, Jew Town Road, Mattancherry.
Contact: message +91 7594 987928 on WhatsApp or call the same number.
What Duffmuttu Is
Duffmuttu is a group performance of the Mappila Muslims of Malabar, named after the duff, a frame drum of wood and hide. A troupe of eight to ten players sings and sways to the beat, drumming with fingers and palms, and towards the end the players stand, sit and bow their heads in time. The songs are mostly in Arabic, many from the Safeenappattu, a traditional book of Moulid songs, praising God, the Prophet, his family and Sufi saints. It is played at weddings, mosque festivals and other celebrations, and many mosques and madrasas keep their own troupes.
It is said to have originated in Persia, where it was called the dap, and other accounts say the form reached Kerala by way of the Lakshadweep islands.
Irshad P, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWho Is Performing
Dr Koya Kappad is a duffmuttu master from Kappad, in Kozhikode district, and the fourth generation of the Alassam Veettil family, which has taught the form for generations. He learned it from his father, Usthad Ahmad Kutty Musliyar. He directs the Malabar Centre for Folklore Studies, and in October 2022 the Kerala government made him vice-chairman of the Kerala Folklore Academy. He is credited with bringing Duffmuttu and Arabana Muttu back among young people, and has taught them as far away as Fiji and New Zealand.
Thudippu also ran the Chavittunadakam workshop at the same venue on 26 September — what that morning was.
