Kathakali Club enters diamond jubilee year

KOCHI: Envisioning a community that has access to an art form once considered aristocratic, Ernakulam Karayogam, now at the threshold of diamond jubilee, formed a Kathakali club 59 years ago, in 1958.
The club which is celebrating its 59th anniversary at TDM Hall on Sunday played a decisive in bringing Kathakali, performed before an elite audience, to the masses.“It was clubs like these that helped to make Kathakali popular,” said Sadanam Harikumar, a Kathakali musician. Harikumar will be honoured at the event with Thauryathrikam award for Kathakali sangeetham.
P Ramachandran, the general secretary of Ernakulam Karayogam said the organisation was formed to promote amateur Kathakali artists.
“The club stands for those Kathakali artists who fail to earn even the income of a daily wager and those struggling to keep the art form alive,” said Ramachandran.
FACT Padmanabhan, the Kalahamsam awardee for ‘vesham’ who had been associating with the club since 1966, said that the platform has been equally benevolent to Katahakali artists with star value as well as amateurs.
“Over the years, the taste and attitude towards Kathakali might have changed and there is a young generation which doesn’t know much about the art form. However, clubs like these have played a key role in making it a people’s art form by providing financial and artistic support to those who pursued Kathakali as their livelihood,” Padmanabhan said.