Thrissur Pooram: Two Kerala women set to script history through 'chenda' performance

Two women are all set to create history in this year's 'Thrissur Pooram', a Kerala annual temple festival renowned for its grandeur and tradition. Archana Anoop and Aswathy Jithin, hailing from the Poonkunnam area in Kerala's Thrissur town, will perform chenda, a traditional percussion instrument, at the pooram in the Kanimangalam percussion ensemble. 

As they brace to break the barriers at Pooram, led for centuries by male percussionists, 42-year-old Archana and 35-year-old Aswathy are beyond excited for the great opportunity. 

The duo will take part in the procession from the entry of Kanimangalam Shastha through the southern gate and ending with the exit at the western gopuram. 

Aswathy says she took up chenda seven years after drawing inspiration from her husband, percussionist Jithin Kallat. She also became the first woman to receive a Cultural Department Scholarship in the instrument. "A month before our son’s ‘arangettam’ (first performance), I asked my husband whether I too could learn chenda, and he encouraged me," Aswathy told OnManorama. 

She will perform at the percussion ensemble of the "ghatakapooram" led by her husband.  

As for Archana, she began taking lessons after her son began doing so. A trained dancer, Archana told Onmanorama that she wasn’t sure in the beginning but is confident now.  "A chenda is around 14 kg, and holding it can hurt your shoulders initially. However, when we focus on the rhythm, we forget it all and the instrument becomes a part of us," she told Onmanorama. 

Archana and Aswathy will be performing the pandi melam that is set to the valamthala beat.

Though a female flautist, Hridya, had taken part in the Thrissur pooram last year, this will be the first time that women will perform chenda.

Society