Vellinezhi, the art village of Palakkad district, will host a three-day national folk festival from Sunday. The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (KSNA) will organise the festival in association with the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur. The Kalagrama Mandiram will be the main venue of the mela.
M.V. Narayanan, Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, will inaugurate the festival. More than 100 folk artistes from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha will showcase their talents in the festival.
P. Mammikkutty, MLA, will preside over the inaugural. KSNA secretary Karivallur Murali will deliver the keynote address. K. Premkumar, MLA, and South Zone Cultural Centre director K.K. Gopalakrishnan will be the chief guests.
KSNA chairman Mattannoor Sankarankutty will inaugurate the valedictory session on Tuesday. The last day’s function will mark a cultural procession.
On the inaugural day, artistes of Bhil tribe from Rajasthan will perform Ghoomar folk dance wearing ghaghra veils. Yadava artistes from Chhattisgarh will perform Raut Nacha folk dance, and artistes from Goa will present Samai, the Goan traditional folk dance carrying metal lamps.
On the second day, artistes from Gujarat will perform Daandiya Raas, the socio-religious folk dance traditionally performed during the festival of Navaratri. Artistes from Odisha will perform Dalkhai, a popular folk dance of the tribal communities in Western Odisha. Artistes from Rajasthan will perform Kalbelia dance, a colourful dance of Kalbelia snake charmers from the Thar Desert.
On the last day, artistes from Madhya Pradesh will perform Badhai, a folk dance of Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh. Artistes from Gujarat will perform Hudo, the folk dance form of Bharwad tribe, the shepherd community of Gujarat. The Rajasthani artistes will perform Chakri dance, a popular folk dance of Kanjar tribe that inhabited in parts of Kota and Baran districts of Rajasthan. Chakri dance is performed by Kanjar tribal women in most weddings and festivals in the Haroti region.
