On August 15, Thiruvananthapuram will sing for the nation. It is the 79th Independence Day and Kanakakunnu Palace grounds will reverberate with the voices of 1,200 singers at ‘Thalasthanam Deshathinaayi Paadunnu’ (The capital singing for the nation), an initiative of Paattinte Koottukaar, a charity for music.

“The singers will render two songs that every Indian knows – ‘Saare Jahaan Se Achcha’ and ‘Jana Gana Mana’,” says Nayas Elias, who heads Paattinte Koottukaar, which has been conducting music sessions at institutions that house cancer patients and their carers and at old age homes in the city. “They will be dressed in white and wear caps in the colours of the national flag. Our idea is to sing for the country in a national flag formation,” he says, adding that the event is also an attempt at entering the Talent Book of World Records. Two hundred and twenty NCC cadets will also be singing with this group.

Nayas adds that he got the idea after Paattinte Koottukaar conducted a music programme featuring 122 singers on December 25 last year in connection with the 100th birth anniversary of Mohammed Rafi at the flower show. Preparations started in January and they held programmes at the Poojappura Central Jail and Shanghumugham beach on January 26 with 79 singers of the forum to test if they could pull it off.

“It was an ambitious move. We officially invited the 80-odd music clubs and forums in the city, to allow their members to be part of this. While many refused, several others extended their support. And from just 13 singers at our first practice session held at Priyadarshini Hall, East Fort, the numbers grew as word got around,” he says.

Once the registration (free) began, participants were split into groups headed by 48 coordinators. “There are people from all walks of life, irrespective of age and gender, from daily-wage labourers, homemakers, professionals and retirees to government officials. While most of them are singers, both trained and untrained, the others are in it because they wanted to be part of the initiative,” Nayas adds.

Rehearsal for Thalasthanam Deshathinaayi Padunnu at Gandhi Bhavan
| Photo Credit:
NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud, and Sree Chithira Thirunal Auditorium, Poojappura, gave space for them to conduct rehearsals. Besides Nayas, training sessions are led by B Venugopalan Nair, the 84-year-old music exponent and patron of Paattinte Kottukaar, which currently has over 300 members.

“The biggest challenge for us was that many of them were either singing the wrong lyrics or pronouncing the words incorrectly. We had to rectify that and have succeeded to some extent,” Nayas says.

Jameela Beevi, a retired government employee and one of the singers, says, “I am not a trained singer. When I heard about the programme I felt I should be a part of it. We are Indians and this is my way of giving back to the nation.” Many, like Shalin Sha, who was with her mother, Shimna, turned up for practice with their family. Prince NP and his family had come all the way from Kodungalloor in Thrissur district. “I work in Qatar and am on leave now. I am participating with my parents, elder sister and two of my mother’s friends. When we came across announcements about the programme, we wanted to join it, especially because we all sing. And distance did not matter,” says Prince.

The programme begins at Kanakakkunnu grounds on August 15 at 5pm.