Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

VS opens Octave 2008

— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

VIBRANT DANCERS: A dance performed as part of Octave 2008 that began in the city on Saturday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Octave 2008, an eight-day cultural extravaganza showcasing arts and crafts from the north eastern States took off here on Saturday with a formal inauguration by Chief Minister V.S.Achuthanandan. Minister for Culture M.A.Baby presided over the inaugural function.

The first event of the festival, a specially choreographed performance featuring dance forms from the eight States, saw the Nisagandhi open-air auditorium erupting into a riot of colours soon after the inauguration. The tap of bamboo staves mixed with the rhythm of drumbeats and lilting melody from flutes and other instruments to charm the city residents who turned up to witness the colourful spectacle. A Theyyam performance was also staged.

Over the next seven days, artistes from Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland will exhibit various dance and art forms. These include the Loku Bawang and Erap dance from Arunachal Pradesh, the Shad Pilang and Shade Phor dance of Meghalaya, the Bamboo Dance from Mizoram, the Jeng Bihu of Assam the Chabrung drum dance of Sikkim and the Dhol Chalom from Manipur.

Octave 2008 is the third edition of the festival. While the first Octave was held at New Delhi in 2006, the second one was in Hyderabad.

The festival is aimed at bridging the gap prevailing in the rest of the country in awareness about the rich cultural heritage and expressions of the north-eastern States. The Union Ministries of Culture and Tourism are the principal organisers of the festival while the South Zone Cultural Centre, the State Cultural Department, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademy, Kerala Sahithya Akademy and the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi have teamed up to arrange the programme locally.

About 600 artistes from the eight States are participating in the various programmes.

The organisers have arranged a food court featuring North Eastern cuisine, handicrafts stalls and an exhibition of musical instruments too.

A painting exhibition has also been organised at the Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan.

Mayor C.Jayan Babu, district panchayat president Anavoor Nagappan, Director, South Zone cultural Centre, K.V.Giridhar, chairman, Kerala Sangeeth Natak Akademi Bharat Murali and Culture Secretary V.Venu were present at the inaugural function.

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