The World Tamil Conference ( ta, உலகத் தமிழ் மாநாடு) is a series of occasional conferences to discuss the social growth of the

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory o ...

. Each conference is attended by thousands of Tamil enthusiasts around the world. Conferences are hosted in various cities in India, as well as world cities with a significant Tamil population. The conference aims in promoting the heritage of Tamil language A similar conference called

World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 The World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 was an international gathering of scholars, poets, political leaders and celebrities with an interest in Tamil people, the Tamil language and Tamil literature. It was held in Coimbatore between 23 Jun ...

, unapproved by the

International Association for Tamil Research International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * International (Kevin Michael album), ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * International (New Order album), ' ...

, was held in Tamil Nadu conducted by the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature ...

under the leadership of

M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

. Not all agreed with the academic and intellectual rigour of the latter event. Despite these criticisms upholding such a huge event portraying the value of Tamil language and culture is being appreciated vastly and credited to the DMK supremo as commonly believed by the people in the state of Tamil Nadu. The theme song of the World Classical Tamil conference, Semmozhiyana Thamizh mozhiyam, was composed by Oscar award winner

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

. The song was written by

where he has used popular quotes from Sangam poetry. The latest edition of the conference was held on July 3–7, 2019 in Chicago. The 10th conference was jointly hosted by International Association of Tamil Research, Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) and Chicago Tamil Sangam (CTS). . The theme song of the 10th World Tamil Conference was composed by American Composer Rajan Somasundaram, titled 'Yathum Oore Anthem'. He has composed the first ever musical form for the 2000 year old poetry, Yathum Oore, written by

Sangam period The Sangam period or age (, ), particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka (then known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 6th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. ...

poet

Kaniyan Pungundranar Kaniyan Poongunranar, also Poongundranar or Pungundranar (), was an influential Tamil philosopher from the Sangam age from around 6th century BCE. His name Kaniyan implies that he was an Kaala Kanithar (astronomer) (''kaala kanitham'' in Tamil l ...

. Rajan mentioned that as a tribute to one of the most progressive ancient poetry that calls for unity and equality, he composed the theme song to cover multiple genres of music and brought in many international musicians of varying genres, ethnicity and languages including academy nominated singer

Bombay Jayashri "Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth ge ...

and

Karthik (singer) Karthik (born 7 November 1980) is an Indian playback singer and composer. Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung more than 8000 songs in 15 Indian l ...

List of conferences

References

External links

First International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, 1966
{{Tamil-stub

List of conferences

References

Further reading

External links