chenda melam

Lakshmi Devi, a 44-year-old manager and mother of two, stood out at Ernakulam Siva temple for her performance on the kurumkuzhal, breaking gender norms in Kerala's chenda melam scene. Despite initial challenges with chenda, she switched to the wind instrument, performing at numerous temple festivals and proving her dedication to mastering this male-dominated art form.

‘Nagari melam’, the local tribal people’s version of ‘chenda melam’ in Kerala, seems to be becoming very popular among the people in the state. Activist ‘Auto’ Suresh, of Vazhapadi, said the ‘nagari melam’ was invented by the tribals of Kalvarayan Hills.

As candidates slog it out in the local body election campaign, chenda melam has become the newest vehicle of outreach for Usha Vijayan who is contesting from ward number 7 in Idukki’s Kudayathor grama panchayat. At each gathering, Usha and her team begins the melam slowly, but along the way it picks up pace and reaches a frenetic crescendo, before they sign it off on a high note, seeking the voters’ support.

With the mushrooming of ‘chenda melam’ groups from neighbouring Kerala, the nadaswaram and thavil players in Thanjavur are getting a raw deal these days.

Bengalureans have an opportunity to experience ‘Panchari Melam’ and ‘Pandi Melam’, the classical ‘chenda melam’ symphony from Kerala, by top maestros this weekend.

Actor Rajesh Dhruva who recently took up learning to play the 'chenda melam', says it took him 15 days to master the traditional percussion instrument of Kerala

Panchari melam, the percussion ensemble performed in five 'kalams' (tempo), can easily be called the king of melams.

Hundreds of panchaari melam artists ushered in the eight-day long Vrischikolsavam, the annual festival of Sree Poornathrayeesha Temple here on Monday.

A group of 10 non-resident Keralites settled in Malaysia is all set to stage a percussion ensemble (chenda melam) performance at Thamaramkulangara Sree Dharma Sastha temple in Tripunithura on January 31. Interestingly, though percussion ensemble music is hugely challenging and demands real musical knowledge from the players, the group of techies employed in the south east Asian country learned to perform the ensemble music online, with their teacher sitting miles away in Kerala and offering them live music lessons and virtual music classes. “It all started with our Onam celebrations just before the Covid outbreak in 2019.

`Thiruvathira Muthashi' is all set to debut on chenda on Tuesday, performing Chembada melam, at the age of 80. Malathy G Menon, a familiar face in the cultural scene of Kochi for more than 30 years, took to chenda at the age of 79 after trying her hand on instruments like edakka and keyboard

The joy of Coimbatorians touched a notch higher on Sunday as the Happy Streets entered its 25{+t}{+h} week.Also, people joined hands with the civic body and removed hoardings at R S Puram.

Muhamma grama panchayat will set up women's chenda melam troupes in all its grama sabhas.The panchayat will give Rs 50,000 to each troupe and will also conduct training for them.

Nedumangad is all set to welcome Onam with a festival fair and celebration. ‘Onotsavam 2022’, jointly organized by the tourism department and Nedumangad municipal corporation, has started.

Chenda, which is commonly used in temples in Kerala, is becoming popular in Chennai, of late

According to artistes, chendamelam has slowly become an indispensable part of celebrations in Chennai

… Says Cherussery Anand Marar, one of the most promising upcoming thayambaka artistes of the State

TV host Sastika Rajendran tries to play chenda melam

On the last day of campaigning for elections in colleges affiliated to the MG University, the candidates tried to woo voters by drawing their attention to the problems in the education sector and the political system through popular art forms.