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Volvo Ocean Race ‘08 Kochi – Its Party Time!!

11 December 2008 No Comment

The India Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race has seen ten days of celebrations and activities, showcasing the artistic wealth of Kerala and India through a wide range of classical, folk and ritual art forms. India’s musical geniuses namely Fazal Qureshi, Mattanur Shankaran Kutty, Hariharan and Louis Banks mesmerized visitors with their grand musical ensemble at the Cochin Race Village last week.

Visitors who were at the race village yesterday were treated to an instrumental music programme by Ramesh Thampuran’s band Whirlwind and Thunder at 6 pm. More than twenty-two instruments ranging from the Mizhavu will fuse with the Khol of Manipur, Kerala’s chenda, Madalam, Thimila, Edakka and mizhavu, together with the South Indian mridangam and Latin congo drums for a classical pop music evening.

The night saw some modern grooves by the Kerala band Moksha. This 20 member band along with playback singer Haritha performed a fusion of Western pop, Hindi and Arabian numbers. Haritha is well known for singing ‘Oh Mama Mama Chandamama’ in the Malayalam movie ‘Rock n Roll’.

All the cultural programmes at the main stage of the Race Village are sponsored by Kerala Tourism.

Today evening (Wednesday, 10 Dec) the skippers and crew members of the Volvo Ocean Race will have a public interaction with school kids and the general public at 2.00 pm at the main stage.

This will be followed by a navy cup regatta and a sail boat race organized by the Yachting Association of India. Junior members of the Kerala Yachting Association will also be taking part in their sail boat, ‘Optimist’. Around 40-50 sailing boats are expected to participate in this open race which will be held along the Mattancherry Channel in front of the Media Centre.

One of the biggest attractions of the Stopover will be a Snake Boat Race ‘Choondan Vallom’ on Thursday (11 Dec). Participants will include oarsmen from the prestigious Nehru Cup Boat Race (held on the 2^nd Saturday of August annually) as well as sailors and crew members of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Each snake boat is crafted purely out of wood and marvelously joined together without a nail or a rivet. Over 125 oarsmen in each of the six boats will show their grit and power against the visitors. The participating teams will board from Ernakulam Jetty at 3.00pm. The boat race will be held by the Mattancherry Channel.

Crowd numbers at the Race Village are swelling by the day and record numbers are expected for the restart and departure of the Volvo fleet on December 13.