Kerala House, 671 Romford Rd, Manor Park, London E12 5AD
Malayalee Association of the UK (Kerala House)
The Malayalee Association of the UK (M.A.U.K.) is a charity organisation, representing the needs of the local community, and the Malayalee community in the UK, promoting Kerala and its arts, culture and heritage. MAUK moved into 671 Romford Road in 1987, holding events for the local Malayaleen community and teaching traditional music. MAUK Nisari music troupe was formed in 1996 and is currently one of the leading South Indian Music troupes in the UK.
“It feels like an extended family I can depend on.”
Swaroop Menon
Oral histories
Sreejith Sreedharan
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Background
Sreejith Sreedharan, born 1972 in Kerala, is a long-time organiser at Kerala House in Newham and co-founder of the Nisari music troupe.
Transcript
So we said, ‘Okay, why don’t we try and start a chenda classes?’ So we started off with chenda, and that became a big, massive hit. At one point, our music, dancer music classes had around 140 students. In 2011 we took the next step in music. We started teaching tabla, traditional South Indian music, from Kerala House, we are lucky enough to get a brilliant artist from India. He’s a composer. He did music for many Kerala films. His name is Albert Vijay, so he came over from Kerala. And so we started a music school with him. Initially, he started with keyboard.
Swaroop Menon
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Background
Swaroop Menon, born 2006 in Newham, is a student and percussionist who plays chenda with MAUK at Kerala House in Manor Park.
Transcript
Kerala House MAUK isn’t specifically like a teaching centre, like a school, because downstairs, they’re playing cards, they’re having their fun, and they’re having chenda lessons downstairs. So it’s it’s like a balance between teaching, having fun and just anything else, which is why it can’t be like, grouped into one specific category, which is why it’s like diversity is very diverse. This is the place where I can learn, but it’s also a place where I can have fun, almost let loose and be myself, take my mind off of other things.
Vinod Kumar Sukumaran
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Background
Vinod Kumar Sukumaran, born 1978 in Kerala, is a music teacher based in East Ham who has taught chenda drumming through MAUK’s Kerala House since 2011.
Transcript
Everybody is enjoying this instrument here, and all the different people are coming to learn here. And all of them are happy. I think Kerala House is very useful for all community, not only for Malayalees.
