The vi­brant rhythms of Chow­tal Sam­me­lan once again filled the stage at SDMS head­quar­ters in St Au­gus­tine on Feb­ru­ary 28, as stu­dents from across the coun­try show­cased their mas­tery of this beloved East In­di­an mu­si­cal tra­di­tion.

Cel­e­brat­ing its 41st year in 2026, the event high­light­ed the en­dur­ing lega­cy of the late Sat Ma­haraj, whose vi­sion­ary work rein­tro­duced and re­vived chow­taal singing with­in the SDMS school sys­tem through the Baal Vikaas Com­pe­ti­tion.

This year, 43 pri­ma­ry schools par­tic­i­pat­ed, along­side spe­cial guest per­for­mances from five Hin­du col­leges, cre­at­ing a kalei­do­scope of sound, colour, and cul­ture. Chow­tal, an in­te­gral part of the Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions, came alive on stage with elab­o­rate cos­tumes and props, bring­ing the sto­ries and rhythms of East In­di­an her­itage to life.

The stage, in­ge­nious­ly split in­to two, al­lowed one school to per­form while the next pre­pared, en­sur­ing a seam­less flow of per­for­mances from 9 am to 6 pm, with free lunch­es pro­vid­ed for all par­tic­i­pants. The ef­fi­cient chore­og­ra­phy of the event re­flect­ed both the ded­i­ca­tion of the stu­dents and the or­gan­i­sa­tion­al vi­sion that has guid­ed the an­nu­al gath­er­ing for over four decades.

For the young per­form­ers, the event is more than a com­pe­ti­tion—it is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to en­gage with their her­itage, de­vel­op con­fi­dence, and show­case the rich­ness of East In­di­an mu­sic and cul­ture. For the au­di­ence, it is a re­minder that the next gen­er­a­tion is car­ry­ing for­ward tra­di­tions with pride and cre­ativ­i­ty.

From its ear­ly days—when the first 31 SDMS schools were built be­tween 1952 and 1956—to to­day’s 43 par­tic­i­pat­ing schools, the Chow­tal Sam­me­lan stands as a gem of East In­di­an her­itage in Trinidad, en­sur­ing that the vi­brant sounds of chow­tal con­tin­ue to res­onate for gen­er­a­tions to come.