Kasavuthattam 2011 at the Al Aziziya beach, Al-Khobar. (SG photo by Faisal Aboobacker Ponnani) Sahridaya Kala Vedi, an Indian expatriate organization that promotes art and culture, held a traditional musical night at the Al Aziziyah beach in Al-Khobar called “Kasavuthattam 2011”. The special musical program was called “Mappilapattu”, a traditional musical form of Keralite Muslims from the Malabar region. This traditional musical form passed down generations through an oral tradition. In fact, the earliest Mappilappattu can be traced back to 700 years ago. Many of the Mappilappattu capture in them the beauty of fantasy apart from a reflection of faith. The songs use words and phrases borrowed from other languages like Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Hindi and Tamil, though they are basically sung in a mixture of Arabic and Malayalam. Faizal Elattil, a well-known Mappilapattu scholar, singer and jury member of the famous Mappilapattu television reality show “Pattrummal”, was the chief guest at the event. Renowned singers of Mappilappattu from the Eastern Province – Shihab Koylandi, Dinesh Kannoor, Merin Bernad, Jinsha Haridas, Shraya Ravindran, Shahla Jalal, Haneefa Valancheri, Warsha Raj, Reshma Raj, Ahmed Thrikkaripoor and Shamir Nilambur – sang various compositions of Mappilpattu pioneers like Moinkutty Vaidyar, P.T Abdurahiman, Pulikkottil Hyder and others. Apart from Mappilapattu, traditional dance forms of Keralite muslims like “Kolkali” and “Oppana” was also performed by various artists. Chief organizer T.P.M Fazal presided over the function; P.A.M Haris, Mohammed Kutty Kodour, Sajid Arattupuzha, P.M Najeeb, P.T Alawi, M.M. Nayeem and Mansoor Palloor also spoke during the program.
