Onam Week Celebrations to Bring Alive Kerala’s Cultural Vibrancy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The capital city, district headquarters and scores of other venues across the state are all decked up for the Onam Week Celebrations organised by the Government from September 3, setting the stage for a thrilling experience that brings alive the amazing range of Malayalis’ cultural expressions.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the state-level celebrations at Nishagandhi Open Air Auditorium here on September 3 at 6 pm.

Minister for Tourism and Public Works P A Mohamed Riyas will preside over the opening ceremony.

“The Onam Week Celebrations will go on till September 9, showcasing the cultural vibrancy of the state reflected by its arts, dance and music traditions,” Minister for General Education and Labour V Sivankutty, told a press conference here today while unveiling the programme details.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G R Anil, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan, Mayor Arya Rajendran, Members of Parliament, MLAs, District Panchayat President D Suresh Kumar, Tourism Secretary K Biju and Tourism Director Sikha Surendran will be present at the inaugural function.

Film director and actor Basil Joseph and Tamil movie actor Ravi Mohan (Jayam Ravi) will be the chief guests.

The inaugural ceremony will be followed by musical nite at Nishagandhi.

Helmed by the Tourism Department, the eagerly-awaited event this year has been organised on a grander scale featuring thousands of artists drawn from Kerala’s classical, ethnic, folk and martial art traditions, Sivankutty, who is the Working Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Festival, said.

MLAs I B Satheesh and V K Prashanth, Kerala Tourism Secretary K Biju, Tourism Director Sikha Surendran and I&PRD Director T V Subhash were also present at the press meet.

In Thiruvananthapuram district alone, there will be 33 venues including the Central Stadium, Poojappura Maidan, Greenfield Stadium, Bharat Bhavan, Gandhi Park, Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan, Museum Compound, Varkala and Nedumangad.

The festival flag will be hoisted at Kanakakunnu on Sunday (August 31) at 5 pm. The Onam Trade fair will open at the same venue at 2 pm.

Enlivening the festival spirit, a tug-of-war will be held at the Central Stadium on September 2 at 5 pm which will see MLAs, employees of the city corporation, district panchayat, the government secretariat and media persons displaying their strength and skill.

The festival lights will be switched on September 2 at 6.30 pm, turning the entire city luminous in the evenings. Also, a media centre will be opened the same day.

The ‘Athapookkalam’ contest will be held at Jawahar Balabhavan on September 2.

An audio-visual presentation of traditional Kerala art forms to be staged at Nishagandhi will be anchored by cultural personalities Pramod Payyannur and G S Pradeep.

Nishagandhi will also feature a concert by music director Sharath, and musical programmes by Mano, Chinmayi, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sitara Krishnakumar and a mega show by actor Suraj Venjaramood. Performance by singers Biju Narayanan, Kallara Gopan, Sudeep Kumar, Vidhu Prathap, Najeem Irshad, Remya Nambeesan, Rajesh Cherthala, Nitya Mammen, Pushpavathi and Naresh Iyer will be held in various venues.

There will also be music bands, comedy shows, dance performances. The Central Stadium and Poojappura Maidan will also host programmes by various media houses.

After cheering the local crowd and travellers alike with a rare treat of dance, music and a range of other stage shows spanning classical, folk and ethnic traditions for a week, the grand festival will draw to a close on September 9 with a cultural pageantry from Vellayambalam to East Fort in the city. The cultural procession will be flagged off at Manaveeyam Veedhi and it will feature around 150 floats.

The procession will be strictly following the green protocol and arrangements will be made for the people to watch the moving spectacle at different points.

About 10,000 artistes, including those from other states will also showcase their artistic talent in the colourful Onam programmes.

The Tourism Department, District Tourism Promotion Councils and District Administrations will coordinate the programmes in other districts.