PATHANAMTHITTA: Close on the heels of Nanchamma winning the national award for the best playback singer, more ‘performers’ from the tribal community look set to come to the limelight.Thanks to the NABARD’s tribal development project, many men and women living on the fringes of Sabarimala forest are learning singarimelam (a fast-paced percussion item performed mainly with chenda).
NABARD has set up a 11-member group of tribal people to perform singarimelam at Adichipuzha hamlet in Ranni. Named Sri Vinayaka, it comprises seven women and four men belonging to the Malavedan community. They hail from Adichipuzha, Cholanavayal and Karikulam hamlets. NABARD has entrusted Thanal, an NGO based in Thiruvananthapuram, with the task of executing the project in Pathanamthitta. “Chendamelam is quite important during the annual festival at the Nagaraja temple in our ‘ooru’.
People from outside used to perform it. Many people including women from our neighbourhood expressed interest to learn chenda after they saw the performances. Now it’s happening, thanks to NABARD,” said Surendran K M , a tribal youth from Adichipuzha who is also a trainee with Sri Vinayaka group, which has Suryamol S, 12. as its youngest member and Vijayamma Krishnankutty, 58, as its eldest.
“We don’t know much about the percussion item and the instruments used in it. But we have a strong desire to learn it. We’re confident too. After seeing our training on Thursday, more people from our hamlets are showing interest to learn it,” said Surendran. NABARD programme officer Anoop Kurian said they would set up more similar groups if more tribal people come forward. “Each group should have at least 11 members. Now we have selected tribal people from three hamlets. We are planning to take this initiative to two more hamlets --- Manakkayam and Kurumpanmoozhy,” he said.
NABARD district development manager Reji Vargheese said that once the members of the group complete the training successfully, the bank will provide them with chenda and other instruments to perform singarimelam. “We are executing various projects in five tribal hamlets of Pathanamthitta under our tribal development project,” he said.