Folk Artists Treat Chennaiites for Pongal

A beautifully choregraphed tribal dance performance by a group of Toda tribal women from the Nilgiris, draped in Toda embroidered sari stunned the audience at Island Grounds, one of the locations for this edition of Chennai Sangamam. “This is a confluence of all art forms. This is an opportunity that takes our art form around the world. We are hopeful this would now open us new opportunities for our performance” said Amsamalli a Toda artist to tellmystory.in  Another artist added “We are just 1500 of us in the Nilgiris. We need continuous government support and encouragement to preserve our identity and culture.”

More than a thousand Folk artists from across Tamil Nadu are making Pongal very special for Chennaites this year as they perform at 18 locations in Chennai including the Island Grounds, Eliott’s Beach and Nageshwara Rao Park in the evenings from the 15th to 17th.

Hit hard by the pandemic over the last few years this has come as an opportunity to revive their livelihood.

Also turning many heads, a group of Parai artists from Alanganallur in Madurai who cris-crossed the stage beating their slender drums, dressed in dazzling yellow and pink shirts. Vel Asaan, the Guru who’s team had performed around the world after the earlier editions of Chennai Sangamam says many artists had to pledge their gold and property to tide over the lack of opportunity when the pandemic struck. “There was a silver lining too” he adds. “Many educated youth showed interest to learn Parai and I do have zoom classes even now. For six months.