Around 400 folk artistes will perform at the Namma Ooru Thiruvizha at Island Grounds from 6 p.m. on Monday.
Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries, Tamil Official Language, Tamil Culture and Archaeology, told presspersons here on Saturday that entry to the programme is free. Among the highlights is a fusion of traditional drums put together by Sivamani and dances choreaographed by dance master Brinda.
The Thiruvizha is being organised jointly by the Departments of Art and Culture and Tourism on the direction of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, he said. “The government had announced that a grand folk art festival will be conducted every year with the participation of a large number of artistes to showcase traditional folk art forms of Tamil Nadu. It would be a grand display of folk art forms depicting the rich cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Thennarasu said.
Tourism Minister M. Mathiventhan said that COVID-19 protocols would be implemented strictly. Food stalls by TTDC and private companies too would be selling food to visitors. About 5,000 people were expected to take part in the festival.
On Monday, the programme will start with Tamil Thai Vazhthu by students of Chennai Government Music College. This will be followed by mangala isai by Anandan troupe, kattai koothu by Tiruvannamalai Kumar troupe, kombu isai by Madurai Dakshinamoorthy troupe and periya melam by Tiruvannamalai Munusamy troupe.
Mr. Sivamani will present a musical treat along with Magudam troupe of Tenkasi Kannan, Ramamoorthy troupe. Thudumbu Melam troupe of Coimbatore Saminathan, Pambai Melam troupe of Krishnagiri Manjunathan and Naiyandi Melam troupe of Ramanathapuram Murugan.
Dance forms, art forms and adventure shows such as thol paavai koothu by Kanyakumari Muthu Chandran troupe, mayil attam by Chennai Karthik troupe, poikkal kuthirai attam, karagam, mayil, kaalai attam by Panneer Rajan and Thanjai Amala troupe, thevar attam by Nellai Manikandan troupe, saattai kuchi attam by Dharmapuri Saakkan troupe, jikkattam by Pollachi Mahendran troupe, todar attam by Ooty Vasamalli troupe and servai attam by Karur Chinnadurai troupe among others would be part of the folk dance forms that have been lined up for the evening.
Since the event is part of celebrations of 75 years of Independence, 75 videos depicting folk art forms of Tamil Nadu have been produced by the State government. Some of these videos would be played during the Thiruvizha.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/namma-ooru-thiruvizha-in-chennai-tomorrow/article65241224.ece
