SAN JOSE, CA: The 28th annual Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America convention, otherwise known as FeTNA, organized an extremely successful & well-orchestrated celebration of Tamil culture in San Jose. FeTNA is the unified body and association of all Tamil Sangams in North America. Every year FeTNA conducts an annual convention in a major city of North America during the first week of July.
FeTNA serves as an “Identity for all Tamil people living in North America”. Every year they invite great literary Tamil scholars, Tamil film celebrities, Tamil community enthusiasts and philanthropists to honor the great convention.
The primary objective of FeTNA is to promote Tamil culture, tradition, and art using simple forms of literature, music and drama among the Tamils living in North America and for the future generation.
Attended by thousands the entire 3-day event was very well planned by a dedicated team, and managed to squeeze in salutes to all of Tamil business, education, literature, history, politics, music, drama, dance and, of course, film and its associated celebrities.
The convention kicked off with a private ‘Dinner with the Stars’ for sponsors, donors & media, during which beloved Kollywood actor R Madhavan and singers Haircharan, Pooja Vaidhyanathan, Aalap Raju and Carnatic singer Sowmya. NPC-Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran from Northern Province of SriLanka also graced the ceremony.
This year’s event celebrated two main events namely Centenary celebration (100yrs) of “Tamizhisai Aringer” V.P.K. Sundaram and 125 years of great composer Papanasam Sivan.
This year’s annual convention had 80 hours of program spread over three days, catering to a wide range of age groups from kids, teens, adults to elders. The categories of events were diverse enough to attract people of varied interests like Literature, Drama, Dance, Folk Music, Classical Music, Light Music, Entrepreneur Forum, Children’s Program and many more.
The first day of the convention, Friday July 3, was full of talks and networking sessions encouraging the growth of Tamil businesses in North America and abroad, in concurrence with events regarding Tamil literature, political issues and presentations by American Tamil associations. The day also included some star power in the form of comedy by RJ Dheena, Badava Gopi and a full Tamil music concert by Sowmya. The day ended with a formidable dance performance of the ‘Sivakamiyin Sabadam that greatly showcased local talent & surpassed expectations – proving that the cultivation of ancient forms of Thamizh storytelling are being kept alive by today’s NRI youth.
On Saturday attendees received the convention’s primary dose of Tamil arts and cinema, as the day was filled with ongoing Carnatic music, contemporary dance performances, Thirukural competition, dramas, Silambattam, chess competition, concurrently running youth seminars on various topics, and time with Kollywood attendees, including actror Madhavan and Jaishree.
FeTNA 2015’s peak of attendance was of course the concert on Saturday evening featuring Hoirchara, Pooja Aalap Raju, Magizhini, Pragathi accompanied by Bennet and Band. Overall, kudos must be given to FeTNA 2015’s organizing committee, the Bay Area Tamil Manram and the American FeTNA association as a whole, for devoting immense amounts of time and effort to make the entire convention such a well-orchestrated success.
India Post News Service
