
Meghalaya Chief Secretary Shakeel Ahamed posing for a photo with a group of tribal artistes from Kerala who visited him at Shillong.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Meghalaya Chief Secretary Shakeel Ahamed offered a warm reception to a group of tribal artistes from Kerala who visited him at Shillong on Friday. The team reached Shillong after their arrival in the Northeast to perform at the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland.
Among the 15-member tribal team were five tribal culinary artistes, five tribal musicians and five tribal scientific experts. Mr. Ahamed, a Malayali, interacted with the tribal members in Malayalam.
The artistes are from different tribal regions across the State. They are chosen for the Hornbill Festival by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. They would present various cultural programmes at the festival.
They also visited Assam and performed their unique cultural art forms. Their first programme was at Cotton University, Assam. Later, they presented the programmes at the Assam Tribal Research Institute and on the banks of the Brahmaputra.
The tribal team included State-award winning singer Nanjiyamma, Chikki Mallan, K.S. Mallan, Sulochana Kani, Chyemi Cheenkiral, and Thankamani Kalan.
Officials of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS) too accompanied the tribal team.
Published – November 28, 2025 08:01 pm IST



