Kerala - Alappuzha   

‘Vanchipattu’ contest held

ALAPPUZHA: Whipping up excitement ahead of the Nehru Trophy, a ‘vanchipattu’ contest that saw 33 teams contesting in various categories had Alappuzha swaying to its tunes right through Thursday.

Teams that were divided into those of men, women, boys, girls, juniors and sub-juniors, tested their vocal talents by singing various compositions, that too in different styles ranging from the Aranmula, Vechupattu styles to the Kuttanad style.

Earlier, Kayamkulam MLA C.K. Sadashivan, who took the State Assembly by surprise a few years back when he sang a ‘vanchipattu’ in the Assembly while demanding pensions for ‘vanchipattu’ artistes, inaugurated the contest at the Municipal Grounds here.

Informing that Education Minister M.A. Baby had agreed to include ‘vanchipattu’ contests at the University level, Mr. Sadashivan said plans were afoot to include the item at the school level.

With the government agreeing to grant pensions for ‘vanchipattu’ artistes, an academy that would train the young generation in the art, which has the history of being of uniting warring factions in villages of yore, could also become a reality in the near future, he said.

The winners in the tightly contested event were Government High School, Kuppapuram (Sub-junior girls), Government HS, Kuppapuram (Sub-junior boys), Government Mohammedans School (Junior girls), St. Michael’s H.S., Thathampally (Junior boys), S.D. College, Alappuzha (Senior boys), St. Aloysius College, Edathua (Senior girls), Vijayamma Kunjumon and party (Women, Kuttanad style), K.T. Baby and party (Men, Kuttanad style), Mundankavu Vanchipattu Samithi, Chengannur (Men, Aranmula style) and Mallika and party (Women, Vechupattu style). K.C. Venugopal, MLA, gave away the prizes to the winners.

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