On most evenings in Valmutty, long before the streetlights flicker on, music drifts through the narrow lanes of this small village in Palakkad district. Children gather in little groups outside their homes, humming familiar film melodies, their voices rising and falling in easy rhythm.

A few metres away, older women settle near the ancient Vishnu temple, their devotional songs floating through the warm air. These Thuyilunarthu Paattu — traditional wake-up songs offered to deities like Lord Shiva and Krishna — are sung just as they were generations ago. There are no written notes and no formal training. Only memory, devotion and inheritance.

For Valmutty, music is not a performance. It is a habit, a heritage, a pulse. And now, for the first time, Kerala has officially recognised it.

In a historic decision, the Chittur–Thathamangalam Municipality declared Valmutty the state’s first ‘Pattu Gramam’ or Music Village.

What makes Valmutty’s new name meaningful is not just the songs sung today, but the deep ancestry of the community itself. The Paanars, who make up most of the village, are mentioned in nearly 2,000-year-old Sangam literature as accomplished musicians.

Anthropologist Bhaktavatsala Bharathi, author of Paanar Ethnography, explains, “The Paanars were the communicators of early Tamil society. They preserved tradition, transmitted news and shaped cultural memory. They travelled across ancient Tamil kingdoms, performing in royal courts, narrating stories, praising kings, describing landscapes and singing devotional........

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