Chennai, Jan 14 (PTI) With a ‘Parai’ performance, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin ushered in this year’s “Chennai Sangamam: Namma Ooru Thiruvizha” here on Wednesday.
The fifth edition of the vibrant, four-day event held annually during ‘Thai’ month to coincide with the harvest festival of Pongal, was inaugurated in the presence of DMK MP Kanimozhi and ministers.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Minister credited MP Kanimozhi for sustaining the annual Pongal fixture revived post-2022.
The event will run till January 18 across 20 venues in Chennai from 6 pm to 9 pm daily, showcasing over 1,500 artists performing over 50 folk forms, including ‘therukkoothu’, ‘villupattu’, ‘silambam’, ‘nadaswaram’, ‘naiyandi melam’, ‘karakattam’, ‘kavadi attam’, ‘thappattam’, and tribal dances alongside a food festival and fashion show.
The inaugural event featured over 250 artists and was directed by composer Darbuka Siva and director Praveen.
During the event, the chief minister handed over a government order to Padma Shri awardee and ‘Parai’ exponent Velu Asan for 60 cents of land on 30-year lease to set up a training school.
Addressing the gathering, Stalin said, “Chennai Sangamam is progressing as a Tamil Sangamam, a Sangamam of all artists, and a Sangamam of victory,” and saluted the artists’ spirit.
Venues include Marina Beach, Valluvar Kottam, Semmozhi Poonga, Egmore Museum, Natesan Park, Anna Nagar Tower Park, Avadi Heavy Vehicles Factory and Tambaram Valluvar Gurukulam grounds.
Organised by the Art and Culture Department under MP Kanimozhi’s initiative since 2007 and revived post-2022, the festival promotes Tamil arts with statewide replications directed by CM Stalin.
Guest acts from other states feature Bihu (Assam), bamboo dance (Mizoram), pung cholom (Manipur), Baul (West Bengal), Siddi dhamal (Gujarat) and kolkali (Kerala).
This edition builds on prior years, reinforcing Tamil Nadu’s commitment to folk arts amid Pongal festivities.
Ministers Thangam Thennarasu, M P Swaminathan, Ma Subramanian, P K Sekar Babu, Mayor R Priya and several MPs and MLAs attended the inaugural event. PTI JR JR ROH
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