The Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event which takes place every four years, landed in Birmingham for 2022, a UK city well-known for its diverse population with many communities with roots in the Commonwealth. The city’s South Asian cultures were represented in the games’ opening and closing ceremonies, and for the first time in the history of the games, Tamil representation also gained pride of place at the closing ceremony with an upbeat Kuthu folk dance. The dance entitled ‘Dia Dia Dole’ was choreographed and performed by French Tamil dancer Usha Jey , and Swiss Tamil dancers Janusha and Mithuja .
It's a terrible sign when the interval card rolls up and you let out a sign of exasperation, realising there’s another hour and fifteen minutes to sit through. The film opens with the usual cocktail for Tamil commercial ventures: the hero enters to an action block (in this instance, a wrestling match) followed by a song where his strength, bravura and good nature are praised, and soon after we are introduced to the romantic interest.
The annual festival, Thiruvizha, of the iconic Nallur Kandasamy Kovil in Jaffna began today with the ceremony for hoisting of the deity's flag.
Kollywood superstar Dhanush released a trailer for his latest film ‘Captain Miller’ this week, racking up millions of views within hours as it generated worldwide buzz. The eagerly anticipated film, which sees Dhanush in the starring role and is directed by Arun Matheswaran, caught the attention of many with its swashbuckling visuals and familiarly powerful title. Captain Miller is also the name of LTTE’s first Black Tiger.
On Friday, hundreds of Tamils arrived in New York for the 35th annual Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) summit. FeTNA is an umbrella organization of over sixty different member Tamil Sangams from across North America, which has been meeting annually since its inception in 1987. The first day of the convention began with the Tamil Entrepreneurs Forum (TEFCON). The event featured addresses from prominent businessman and financial executives.Roy Ratnavel for instance, is an esteemed Tamil Canadian who fled torture and imprisonment in Sri Lanka, and has documented his...
Locals in Mannar held an event to celebrate the revolutionary Tamil poet Subramani Bharathi, fondly known as Bharathiyar, last week in a show that celebrated Tamil culture, dance and literature. Hindu, Catholic and Muslim leaders were invited to the event, alongside local politicians.
The Tamil Academic Journal (TAJ), the first Tamil diaspora led academic journal, has published its first issue under the title “Tamil Resistance in the Twenty-First Century” online. (Photo of TAJ Conference at Kingston University July 6th 2019) The publication on 14 April, follows a successful conference at Kingston University where prominent academics on a range of issues from academic freedom; caste discrimination; the colonisation of the North and East of Sri Lanka; Tamil Linguistics in Singapore; and, Tamil identity across the diaspora and homeland. Read more here: Tamil Academic Journal...
Jaffna Despite Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, the Tamil New Year, which falls on the first day of the month of Chithirai in the Tamil calendar, was celebrated across the North-East earlier today. With some referring to the April festival as an exclusively Hindu and sanskritised holiday, there is debate among Tamil communities as to whether the day truly represents a Tamil New Year. Although socially and politically, a lot more prominence is given to the secular Tamil festival of Thaipongal, Chithirai Puthandu is still widely celebrated by Tamils in the North-East and globally. This year...
Oscar-winning musical composer A R Rahman posted an ode to the Tamil language on his social media accounts last week, in a powerful message that seemingly hit back an Indian minister’s remarks on how Hindi should be used across the country. Rahman shared an illustration of “Thamizhanangu” of “Goddess Tamil” on his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
British Tamil actress Charithra Chandran, one of the breakout stars of the hit Netflix show Bridgerton, told Teen Vogue that her “dream production” would be on the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka, as she spoke on colourism and culture this week. Speaking to Versha Sharma, the 25-year-old Oxford graduate brought up the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka when speaking about her dream projects and future roles. “My dream production, whether I’m producing or starring in it, I’d love to make a film about the crisis in Sri Lanka with the Tamil population,” said Chandran. “I think it is so complex and nuanced: the situation with the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, the genocide that happened. It’s something obviously near and dear to my heart because it’s my community.”