By IANS
Dubai : A four-day festival of Kerala art forms, Utsavam 2007, is being held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of India’s independence.
Thiranottam, a UAE-based group promoting Kerala’s art forms, is organising the festival with support from the Indian consulate general here.
“It is a great moment for us that this festival is being held at this time. We now have the opportunity to celebrate both UAE’s National Day and India’s 60 years of independence together,” Muhammed Al Murr, chairman of the Dubai Cultural Council, said while inaugurating festival Thursday evening at the Indian consulate here.
The UAE celebrates its 36th National Day, the day the federation was formed, on Dec 2.
“Indian culture is a very important part of the UAE,” he said.
There are around 1.4 million Indian expatriates, a large number of them Malayalis, in this Gulf nation.
Speaking on the occasion, Singapore’s Consul General in Dubai Dileep Nair, a person of Indian origin, lauded the efforts of Thiranottam in organising this event.
“It is great that a young organisation like Thiranottam is holding this event. Back home in Singapore, 30,000 to 40,000 Malayalis who live there celebrate Onam just as they do in Kerala. And Kathakali is a very important part of the celebrations,” Nair, who also traces his origin to Kerala, said.
India’s Consul General in Dubai Venu Rajamony welcomed the audience to the festival.
Thursday’s programmes started with Kelikottu, a musical ensemble announcing the performance of Kathakali, followed by a Mohiniyaattam recital.
Two performances of Kathakali, the traditional dance drama of Kerala, were the highlights of the evening.
According to the organisers, Thiranottam aims to promote Kathakali and other art forms of Kerala, which are fast becoming alien to the large emigrant Malayali population in the UAE.
The event is also being held in memory of four great personalities of Kathakali — Sri Kalamandalam Padmanabham Nair, Padma Shri Keezhpaadam Kumaran Nair, Sri Sadanam K. Kumaran and Sri Kalamandalam Sankaran Embrandiri — who passed away this year. Each day of the four-day event is being dedicated to one of these personalities.
The festival will continue Friday at the consulate here with a series of programmes from morning till late night. On Dec 1, it will move to the Indian Association Hall in Ras Al Khaimah and finally conclude on Dec 2 at the Kerala Social Centre in Abu Dhabi.
Utsavam 2007 is the latest in a series of programmes being organised by the Indian consulate here to mark 60 years of India’s independence.
The celebrations were kicked off on Aug 16 with Tiranga, a multi-media musical presentation on the national flag of India featuring Pandit Jasraj, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Javed Akhtar and Mandolin Srinivas, among others.
A debate between Indian schools in the UAE was held in October, which was followed by an evening of Carnatic music by Sudha Ragunathan.
This month, eminent journalist and author M.J. Akbar delivered a lecture on “India and the strength of its diversity”.
More programmes are scheduled in the coming months.
On Dec 7, well-known Bollywood music director trio Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa will perform here. An inter-school quiz contest is also scheduled in the same month, followed by a rhythm and raga music extravaganza titled Sur Taal featuring fusion music by renowned jazz drummer Trilok Gurtu and Roop Kumar Rathod.
In January, the consulate is organising an India Day Parade, which will feature various schools and cultural groups.
On Jan 25, a concert titled Salaam India will bring together Asha Bhonsle, K.J. Yesudas and S.P. Balasubramanyam for the first time.