New verve for tribal art forms

Gothrathalam, a troupe of students, on a conservation mission

Kunatta art forms of Kattunayakka tribe

The members of Gothrathalam, the first such troupe of students performing tribal arts in the State, are in high spirits as they have been invited by the government to perform the art forms of Wayanad in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27.

The 52-member group is the result of an innovative project of the career guidance and adolescence counselling cell, Wayanad, under the Higher Secondary Directorate to promote and conserve the tribal art forms in the district.

“Though the different tribal sects have their own art forms, many art forms are on the verge of extinction. Hence, we planned to constitute a troupe to promote and conserve the ethnic art forms,” C.E. Phillip, district coordinator of the cell, said.

It took nearly one year to constitute the troupe, for which the cell selected 161 students from 20 higher secondary schools in the district. Later, a team of 52 students, including 35 tribal students, was formed.

They were trained by seven tribal artistes belonging to different tribal sects on holidays.

The students were trained in the Vattakkali dance of Paniya tribe; Thotti and Kunatta art forms of Kattunayakka, Kolkaly of Mullakuruma, and Gaddhika of the Adiya tribespeople.

They were also trained in playing crude musical instruments and drums of the tribesmen.

“The tribal students are good at dancing and singing but are not often confident to perform their ethnic art forms before the public,” says K.B. Simil, convenor of the cell.

“Hence, we added non-tribal students along with the troupe. Such an endeavour not only helped to make a healthy cultural exchange but also to conserve the tribal art forms,” he added.

“Our debut performance at Kalpetta a few weeks ago was widely acclaimed and it gave us confidence to perform our traditional art forms on any stage,” A. Suraj, a member of the troupe and a Plus Two student of Ambedkar Residential Higher Secondary School at Nallurnad, said.

The troupe will perform in New Delhi to perform Gothrathalam as part of the National Folk fest to be held in December.