With all vigour and vitality, they sung the carols, with a line-up of younger generation standing behind them at the Kerala University Senate Hall in the city.
In traditional Kerala attire with the stylish ‘thalekettu’ (head gear), a set of men in their 60s to 80s proved that they too could steal the show by competing with the Gen-Y kids.
It was during the carol singing programme on Sunday that 13 men gave a stellar start by an energetic rendition of traditional Malayalam carols. They had on their hands, traditional musical instruments of Kerala like ‘chengala’, ‘kaimani’ with band sets and a 1952 model British whistle blown at the end of each song. All were members of the senior citizen fellowship of Ebenezer Marthoma Church, Peroorkada.
The old carols in the ‘vanchipattu’ style were usually sung from house to house several years ago during Christmas season by carrying a ‘ranthel vilakku’ (lantern). “The ‘thalekettu’ was used as there would be mist during the season. The songs we chose are more than a century old,” says V G Chacko, convenor of Ebenezer Marthoma Church, Peroorkada.
Having the experience of singing carols in many big venues, they were happy that they got an opportunity to showcase their prowess. When asked how they felt coming to a stage like this, Abraham Mathew of the group said, “there is a special happiness” to sing here.
They sung songs beginning with ‘albhutham kel albhutham kel desikare ...’, ‘yesu rajan innudichu modaharanayi ...’ and ‘minneedunna thejasse ...’
Several other choirs also presented carols on the occasion. The programme was organised by YMCA, Thiruvananthapuram.