A virtual Tamil Language Festival will run from today till Dec 20, with 25 online programmes ranging from storytelling to dramas to musicals available on Zoom and Facebook.

Spearheaded by the Tamil Language Council (TLC), the virtual festival is open to all ages and promotes the language in Singapore.

TLC has organised the festival since 2007 with partner organisations.

Originally scheduled to run in April, the festival was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

TLC chairman S. Manogaran said: "Our partners have worked hard to adapt to new ways of programming, so we can continue to engage everyone in celebrating the richness of our Tamil language. We hope the community will be inspired and continue to use the Tamil language for many more generations to come."

This year's festival features six new partners.

Musical group Brahmastra will perform Kuralum Kuralum, a musical with a live band presenting Thirukkural, a classic Tamil language text on ethics and morality. The Thirukkural and its explanations will be presented through Tamil songs.

Another new partner to the festival, arts organisation Kalamanjari, will present a musical performance with poetry recital.

The Nanyang Technological University Tamil Literary Society Alumni Association has organised a photography competition. The competition aims to engage participants to express their perspectives of local Tamil poems through photography.

Singapore Kadayanallur Muslim League, an active partner in the festival, will be presenting a cooking demonstration to share forgotten traditional Indian dishes and spices, and the history of early immigrants from Kadayanallur, a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India. Participants will be able to bring home new recipes.

•More information on the festival is available on TLC's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TamilLanguageCouncilSingapore/ or the website www.tamil.org.sg