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, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, will inaugurate the state-level celebrations at Nishagandhi Open Air Auditorium here on September 3.
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.
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 lights will be switched on September 2 at 6.30 pm, turning the entire city luminous in the evenings.
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, and 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.
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.