3000 artistes to participate in Onam pageantry

As many as 3,000 artistes will participate at the colourful cultural pageantry marking the conclusion of this year's Onam Week celebrations being organised by Kerala's Tourism department here tomorrow.
The pageantry would highlight the rich cultural heritage of the state in the fields of traditional percussion, music and dance.
It will also showcase art forms from other parts of India as well as certain foreign countries, a release said here today.
The show that will be flagged off by Kerala Governor Justice P Sathasivam from a special pavilion in the city.
"There will be more tableaus this time. In fact around 100. The total number of art-forms at the pageantry will be 150," Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar said.

"We plan to make this event a particularly memorable one," he said.

The tableaus will mostly focus on current issues such as organic farming and organ donation.
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will distribute the prizes at the valedictory ceremony in Nishagandhi auditorium.
Among the arts from outside Kerala will be Kaliyattam from Puduchery, Fag & Woomer (Haryana), Sambalpuri (Odisha), Mathuri tribal dance (Andhra Pradesh) and Siddi Dhamal dance by immigrated African blacks in Gujarat, besides a grand line-up of dances from Kerala's neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Giving a pan-global representation will be items such as African dance and drums, Western music and B-boying street dance, Jump-rope skipping, Chinese Dragon, Cartoon characters, stilt dance and hilarious clowns.

Security also has been tightened in the city in view of the procession with police deploying more forces.