The music of Kerala has a long and rich history. It is not the same as Malayalam poetry, although most of it is poetry driven. Kerala has a rich tradition in Carnatic music. Songs formed a major part of early Malayalam literature, which traces its origin to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in the culture of Kerala can be established just by the fact that in Malayalam language, musical poetry was developed long before prose. With the development of music in the region, different branches were formed out of it. History The earliest written record of Malayalam is the Edakal - 5 inscription (ca. 4th Century CE). The early literature of Malayalam comprised three types of composition: Classical songs known as Naadan Paattu Manipravalam of the Sanskrit tradition, which permitted a generous interspersing of Sanskrit with Tamil The folk song rich in native elements Malayalam poetry to the late 20th century CE It is very unuseful data. varying degrees of the fusion of the three different strands. The oldest examples of Pattu and, are Ramacharitam and Vaishikatantram, both of the twelfth century. Classical music Kerala is musically known for Sopana Sangeetham. Sopana Sangeetham is a form of classical music that originated in the temples of Kerala. Sopanam is religious in nature, and developed through singing invocatory songs at the Kalam of Kali, and later inside temples. Sopanam came to prominence in the wake of the increasing popularity of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda or Ashtapadis. Sopana sangeetham (music), as the very name suggests, is sung by the side of the holy steps (sopanam) leading to the sanctum sanctorum of a shrine. It is sung, typically employing plain notes, to the accompaniment of the small, hourglass-shaped ethnic drum called idakka, besides the chengila or the handy metallic gong to sound the beats. Sopanam is traditionally sung by men of the Marar and Pothuval community, who are Ambalavasi (semi-Brahmin) castes engaged to do it as their hereditary profession. Some famous sopanam singers are Neralattu Rama Poduval, Janardhanan Nedungadi and Damodara Marar. Kerala is also home of Carnatic music. Legends like Swati Tirunal, Irayimman Thampi, Shadkala Govinda Marar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, V. Dakshinamoorthy, K. J. Yesudas, K.G Jayan (Jayavijaya), Palghat Mani Iyer, Vidwan Gopala Pillai, Chertala Gopalan Nair, M. D. Ramanathan, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, M. K. Sankaran Namboothiri, Mavelikara Krishnankutty Nair,Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, T. N. Krishnan, T S Nandakumar are renowned