KOZHIKODE: Thiruvangoor Higher Secondary School, which has been maintaining monopoly in Mappila folk arts and Malayalam drama competition at the State School Arts Festival, is in an attempt to retain the title this edition as well. Rigorous practising had begun from the beginning of the academic year itself and is in full swing with the fest reaching the doorstep.
Winning 12 times at the district-level and five times at the state-level in duff muttu and arabana muttu, the school is taking part in the high school and higher secondary duff muttu and higher secondary arabana muttu this year as well. Although it has lost the monopoly in the high school arabana muttu at the district fest, the school has filed an appeal. Kolkkali and drama in the high school category and duff muttu in the higher secondary categories, besides individual events like chakyar koothu, ashtapathi, aksharaslokam, kathakali music and Malayalam elocution are the other events that will have participation from the school at the state fest. Covering a number of stages other than the State School Arts Fests, the duff and arabana muttu teams are very much confident of contesting in the state fest. The teams have been performing at the programmes of the Folklore Academy and Kerala tourism all over the state and will be performing during the inaugural ceremony of the National Games. The higher secondary team has also won the state Keralolsavam held in Thiruvananthapuram and will be performing in Chennai during the Republic Day celebrations of the Tamil Nadu government.
“The students are not learning the art forms just for the school arts fests, but for going professional in it and that makes them win the contests,” points out Subair T, English teacher of the school and trainer at the Folklore Academy, who performs with the students at various venues.
“We started practising from the end of June itself to make the performance perfect. The students spent their whole Christmas vacation in rehearsing the event,” he adds. Koya Kappad is training the students in both the events.
The team is competing this year with the majority of the members from last year’s kolkkali team that won the state fest. The kolkkali team has been bagging various positions at the state fest for the past five years.
“We have been practising daily from September under Khalid Gurukkal and are now all set to try out our expertise at the state fest,” say Mohammed Nihad, Ajmal C K, Shamlan and Muhsin K K.
Meanwhile, the drama team, with the majority new to the field, that showcased a brilliant performance at the Revenue District Arts Festival with their drama titled, ‘Kariveppila,’ has just begun their rehearsal after the district fest. The school team has been winning the drama six times at the district-level and thrice at the state-level, besides bagging other positions. The team has also received the best actor title thrice at the state-level fest.
“We are now concentrating on correcting the flaws according to the opinions received at the district fest,” says Sivadasan Poyilkavu, a teacher at the school, who has been scripting and directing the school’s dramas over the years. Memunda HSS team is enacting his drama, ‘Palli’ at the state fest.
About winning the event, the drama team says, “We are not worried about winning the contest but are just focusing on putting up our best performance.”