Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Telugu Association cultural festival showcases folk art

— Photo: R. Ragu

COLOURFUL SHOW: Artists perform Keelugurralu (dummy horse dance) at the Telugu cultural festival in Chennai on Saturday.

Chennai: The Indian Telugu Association will showcase folk art forms of Andhra Pradesh at a grand cultural festival in T. Nagar on Sunday and Monday.

The festival was inaugurated on Saturday by Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy. Artists performed the ‘dummy horse’ dance and kolattam.

Kalidas, a fire-eating artist from Ongole, was dressed in a Goddess Kali costume complete with a garland of skulls made of thermocol and a trishul. Folk art has been handed down for several generations in Kalidas’ family His 13-year-old son, Praveen Kumar, donned the costume of a ‘rakshas’ (mythical demon). The rakshas towered above the audience as he walked on stilts.

G. Rajalakshmi, a resident of T. Nagar, was overjoyed to watch folk art performances she had seen when she was a little girl in Palakonda village in Srikakulam district. “It’s been so many years since I saw something like this. It’s rare to see such a variety of folk art,” she said.

About 200 artists will exhibit their skills in traditional music and dance forms. Some of them said they worked as agricultural labourers because patronage for folk art had diminished.

Chindu Yakshaganam, Tholubommalaata, Jamukala Katha, Oggu Katha, Kolaatam, Dolu Vinyasam, Burrakatha, Veerabhadra Vinyasam, Keelugurralu, Maragaallu, Puliveshalu, Dappuvinyasam, Garadi Pradarsana, Jaanapada Naatakam, Annamayya Keerthanalu and Baindla Kathalu are some of the folk art forms to be performed from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on both the days.

The venue is German Hall on Habibullah Road. Entry is free.

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