Kerala Muslim art forms get a big boost in Dubai

The group performs three types of traditional dances - kolkkali, duffmuttu and vattappattu.

When youngsters tend to lose touch with traditional art forms nowadays in most regions, a group of Indian expatriates from the state of Kerala is striving to keep alive the folkloric dance forms attributed to Muslims.
The peculiarity of the team is that all the members are the former students of a school-Poozhikkal Kunchi Mohammed Haji Memorial Higher Secondary School (PKMMHSS) - in the Edarikode village in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram district.
The boys' team of PKMMHSS Edarikode has been the unrivalled winners of Muslim traditional dance forms in the state's school youth festival, said to be the largest festival of school children in Asia.
These dance forms have been performed by the Muslims in the northern parts of Kerala alias Malabar Muslims, who is known as Mappilas. The story of the school's old boys forming a team in the UAE dates back to 2008.
Manammal Azeez and Abdul Samad, two former members of the school's dance team, took the initiative to get in touch with other boys, from different batches, who had flown down to the UAE to chase their dreams.
Azeez, who works with the media department of General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs in Dubai and Samad, an office employee of the Dubai Municipality, were soon joined by more than a dozen former students of the school living in different parts of the UAE.
From engineer and writer to shopkeeper and office assistant, they grouped together again, irrespective of their new social background, to relive their memories, follow their passion and popularise their traditional dances among the expat community members.
Over the years, Samad said, the number of performers has risen to around 100.
"But most of them won't be in for all the performances. Some 20 of us are regulars."
The team practises during weekends and performs at cultural events and festival celebrations across the UAE.
They perform three types of traditional dances - kolkkali (a form of stick dance), duffmuttu (which uses a percussion instrument called duff) and vattappattu (a wedding dance performed by males). The songs for these dances use regional dialects and the performances often require fast movements similar to Kerala's martial art kalaripayattu.
"These dance forms are interwoven with the cultural life of Muslims in the Malabar belt of Kerala. But they are not performed much these days except in school youth festivals.
"When we dancers came to the UAE looking for better livelihood, we thought we also have the responsibility to keep these art forms alive," said Azeez.
Bringing innovation to their performances, the team has also come up with a new style of dance by blending the steps of "duffmuttu" with that of traditional Emirati dance form "ayala".
"That's our way of boosting the Indo-Arab relations. We borrowed some steps from ayala dance form and wear kandora when we perform this version. We usually do it when there are locals present for our events, especially for the UAE National Day celebrations," explained Azeez.
Eid and other festivals are busy time for these dancers. Various Indian community groups invite them for performances.
Samad said the group has been largely supported by the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre President Anwar Naha and writer and columnist Dr PT Abdul Rahman.
sajila@khaleejtimes.com