THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Around 500 artists from 10 various states will showcase their ethnic art forms in the National Folk Festival to be held in the city from February 24 to 26.
Minister A C Moideen will inaugurate the fest organised by Kerala State Youth Welfare Board in association with Bharat Bhavan and Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan on February 24 at 6 pm.
“A folk dance and music festival of this scale will be the first of its kind in Kerala,” said Pramod Payyannur, secretary, Bharat Bhavan.
Prior to the inauguration, there will be a special art show ‘Mulayude Sangeetham’ and the inaugural ceremony will be followed by four different renditions of the popular folk song ‘naam onnu manmmal onnu’ based on various musical streams.
Hundreds of artists will be simultaneously performing at six different venues erected at Kanakakkunnu. Jashan-e-Kashmir, dance forms from the valley and Gujarati folk performances will be other highlights of the day.
Announcing the festival will be Gramya Smriti, another programme fusing tea-shop conversions and street magic, to be held on February 23 at Nishagandhi. Diverse art forms from Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka will be part of the festival.
“We have given more focus to art forms from Kashmir and around 200 artists from the valley are participating in the festival,” said Pramod Payyannur. On February 25 and 26 there will be seminars on folk art-related topics and J C Kuttappan, chairman, Folklore Academy, will inaugurate the sessions.
Among the art forms will be ‘kalbelia’ from Rajasthan, a fast-and-sensuous tribal dance where women in black costumes gyrate reminding the spectators of the movements of a snake. Shajiya, the renowned folk band from Kolkota, will be performing in Kerala for the first time.
The band uses folk instruments like aktara, dotara, khamak, dubki, khol, dhol and madol. Perum Kaliyattom, the grand ritual art form, will be recreated on the last day of the festival as ten theyyams will walk down to Manavyeeam Veedhi and perform till midnight. Kanakakkunnu, Nishagandhi and Manaveeyam will be the main venues of the festival.