Chennai Music & Dance Festival in Dec’08 & Jan’09 Chennai music and dance festival is a celebration of classical music and dance of South India (Carnatic Music) held during mid December to mid January in the capital city of Chennai. The festival is held at a number of venues around the city by various sabhas or organizations. Chennai music and dance festival is a celebration of classical music and dance of South India held during mid December to mid January in the capital city of Chennai. The festival is held at a number of venues around the city by various 'sabhas' or organizations. Besides the auditoriums, well-known temple premises and heritage bungalows are being used as venues. The month long dance and music extravaganza will have performances of famous artistes from various parts of India. The 'Margazhi festival of dance and music' started early back in 1927, to commemorate the anniversary of Madras Music Academy every December, was later adopted by various organizations which held art festivals in different parts of the city. The Tamil month of 'Margazhi' is a sacred month of the Hindus. South Indian classical music (Carnatic Music), which has its roots in devotion to the gods, has been a traditional form of worship from time immemorial. The city comes alive with the festival, which has now developed, into a cultural extravaganza with more than 2000 participants in over 300 concerts. The festival also known as December Season also attracts expatriate Indians and scholars from around the world. Volvo race to have stopover in Kerala Asia welcomes the Volvo Ocean Race with stopovers in three countries like India Singapore and China, meaning that the route for this year’s voyage is new to the participating boats. In India the race will stop at cochin, Kerala from December 3-13, 2008. Longest route in the competition’s history will be covered this year. The 10th edition will cover 37,025 nautical miles, equivalent to 68,570 kilometres, divided into 11 legs. This would be equivalent to 12,528 laps of the Valencian F1 Urban Circuit. For the race finish, for the first time the Russian city of St. Petersburg will receive the heroes that complete this competition in June 2009