The Hindu : Kerala News : When varied strains of music mingled

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Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

Kerala

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When varied strains of music mingled

By Our Staff Reporter

KUNNAMKULAM (THRISSUR), MARCH 5. Audiences were treated to different styles of music, both old and new, at the Calicut University Inter-Zone University Youth Festival here on Saturday.

The experience was stimulating. You could hear Mysore Vasudevachar's Simhendra Madhyamam composition at one venue, walk a few steps ahead and listen to a Beatles song performed, and end your stroll at the farthest corner of the Boy's High School, enjoying the traditional Kerala Keli.

Let us call on the traditional percussionists. All the thayambaka performers, except A.V. Arun of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, played the chembakkooru. Arun played the adanthakooru and came first.

The judges Moorkanad Dinesan, Kalamandalam Purushothaman and Thiruvambadi Vinod were not much impressed by the performances. "The standard of percussion art in youth festivals is coming down day by day. Most of the performers have come with pieces set exclusively for the contest. This will not help develop their talent. Also, separate competitions should be held for chenda and maddalam players,'' Mr. Dinesan said. Teen taal was the preferred tala in the tabla-pakhawaj competition. The winners were C. Sandeepan of IES College of Engineering, May Joy of Centre for Costume and Fashion Designing and Hariprasad of MAMO College, Mukkom.

St. Thomas College topped the western music competition, singing the songs Kiss a Rose, Heal the World and I'll be There for You. Providence College came second, singing Teach Your Children, California Dreaming and All the Leaves are Brown. The Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, Pampady, came in the third position. The team presented the songs Show Me the Meaning, It's My Life and Take it Easy.

"All the groups performed so well that we found it difficult to select the winners. The show by St. Thomas College had a nice blend of male and female voices, and good orchestral support. This made them winners,'' said Atlee D'Cunha, one of the judges. Ragas Kalyani and Simhendra Madhyamam seemed to be the favourite of most of the Carnatic performers.

The toppers of the light music competitions — M. Prathibha of Government College, Chittur, and Danny Sebastian of Calicut University's Department of English — sang Ezhuthan Maranna Kinavu Pole Thula Mazha (lyrics by Sijil Kodungallur, set to tune by Nandakumar Vadakara) and Sivakami padunnu (lyrics by K. V. Sabarami, set to tune by Noby Bentix), respectively.

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