DakshinaChitra is celebrating Onam. Visitors can enjoy village traditions of Kerala, textiles and craft in a unique ambience of festivity.
Onam is a festival celebrated by the people of Kerala. The festival commemorates the Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the subsequent homecoming of the legendary Emperor Mahabali.
Folk Troupe
To celebrate the festival, DakshinaChitra has Swaralayam group from Kozhikode to perform Singari Melam.
The Singari Melam is a percussion ensemble found in Kerala. This performing
art form combines steps and movement with continuous percussion.
The main instrument used for Singari Melam is the Chenda.
Kerala has a long tradition in percussion ensembles which are called Chenda Melam.
Compared to other forms of percussion ensembles the Singari Melam is a relatively new and therefore not yet considered as a classical art form. Its origins might be seen in the Panchari Melam, a percussion ensemble consisting of five instruments played inside the temples or the Pandi Melam, a percussion ensemble which usually performed outside the temples. Although the percussion ensembles as the Singari Melam have their origins in a secular context, they are nowadays especially popular for all kinds of festivals and cultural events.
Traditionally all percussion ensembles in Kerala consisted exclusively of men. The first Singari Melam all-women group was created by members of Kudumbashree, which is a popular self-help network of women in Kerala. These women learned how to play Chenda from a traditional master of this art form called Ashan. Nowadays women groups perform Singari Melam all over India and even abroad in the gulf countries.
Performance timings will be 11.30am, 12.30pm, 3.30 pm and 4.30pm.
As part of the festival a workshop on Traditional Kerala Mural by K.U. Krishna Kumar is organized. Sujith from Wayanad will also have his demonstration, display and sale on various mural based artifacts and will also do a workshop on Kerala Mural on Bamboo and terracotta.
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