The Kuala Lumpur Festival

The Kuala Lumpur Festival celebrates the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character of Malaysia’s premier city with a month-long cultural extravaganza every year. This festival, which was instituted in 2006, kicks off in the beginning of July and lasts the entire month. Special activities and various cultural performances are an integral part of the festival, whose aim is to promote unity amongst all Malaysians through a spirit of creativity.
Music and dance are prominent components of the KL festival and the event this year features a series of energetic band performances to be held at various KL shopping malls like Lot 10, Sungei Wan Plaza, Festival City and the Vivo Mall, throughout the month. The Kuala Lumpur Music Festival and Dance 2013, a dance presentation by the city’s Aswara Dance Company, are other prominent music and dance features of this year’s festival line-up. Also on the anvil, are Cultural and Holiday Dance Performances, to be hosted at various dates in July, at Kasturi Walk, part of the popular tourist attraction, the Central Market.
The city’s Indian community will offer displays of native dance forms of India, through events like NirtyaSamarpanam, a Kuchipudi Dance presentation, a Bharatha Natyam Arangetram concert and Sharangathi, a Bharatha Natyam/ Odissi Dance Concert, all events, scheduled to be hosted at the Shantanand Auditorium of the Temple of Fine Arts, in the Bricksfield neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur.
Aside from dance and music, the festival also features a strong drama element and offers several Malay drama and theater performances.  Performances of productions like Grey, Postcards from Rosa, Boeing Boeing, Bumiputeras Lucky Lucky Son, Rashomon, which have appeal for all ages, are to be held at various dates throughout the festival month at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center. The festival program also offers displays of traditional Malaysian martial arts like Silat, Wushu, Silambam and Taekwondo, which continue to be practiced until today.
The dates of the Kuala Lumpur Festival, in 2013, coincide with the holy fasting month of Ramadan and thus the festival program offers various Ramadan-themed events as well. One such event is the Bubur Lambuk Congee Cooking Competition to be held at the National Institute of Broadcasting and Information Abdul Razak or IPPTAR on the 24th of July. Bubur Lambuk, a rice porridge is customarily consumed as a breakfast meal during Ramadan.
Also on the festival agenda are events like a Ramadan Youth Camp,(26th to 28th July) to be held at the National Mosque, an Islamic Fashion Display scheduled for various dates at the Sungei Wan Plaza and a Ramadan Spiritual concert and Nasyid competition scheduled for the July 28th at the DBKL City Theater.
These are but a few of the many festivities on offer during the month-long cultural extravaganza that is the Kuala Lunpur Festival. So if you have Kuala Lumpur on your travel schedule for July, do make sure you take in an event or two of the culturally-rich Kuala Lumpur festival.
Festival website-http://www.klfestival.org.my/