MANGALURU: There was pin drop silence when Yakshagana artistes performed ‘Chakravyooha’ prasanga in Thenku Thittu style. The death of Abhimanyu in the Kurukshetra battle touched the audience who shed tears.
While the tragic end of the Mahabharata warrior always moves the audience, the performance at Mangaladevi recently stood out, partly because of the background music.
The violin which was used in the performance enhanced its poignancy. This musical instrument was introduced for the first time in the Thenku Thittu style of Yakshagana, which is popular in Dakshina Kannada district.
Usually, ‘chende’, ‘maddale’, ‘harmonium’ and ‘chakrathala’ constitute the background instruments of Yakshagana. But artiste Bannanje Sanjeeva Suvarna under whose direction ‘Theatre Yaksha Udupi’ troupe staged the Yakshagana at Ramakrishna Ashrama in Mangaladevi, added violin to the background score.
The bhagavatha’s singing was accompanied by the violin. The slow steps in the Yakshagana were also a little different from the normal fast paced Badagu Thittu style. Thenku and Badagu are north and south variants of the folk art.
But it’s not the first time the violin had been experimented in Yakshagana. Celebrated writer and artiste Kota Shivarama Karanth had experimented with the violin and the saxophone.
However, it was in Badagu Thittu Yakshagana ballet. Though some people had welcomed the innovations, a majority of the folk art lovers opposed it saying it would destroy the traditional flair of the art. Karanth’s innovation in Badagu Thittu is now experimented by his student Suvarna in Thenku Thittu. And this time, the audience has taken well to it.
The violin goes well with ‘karuna rasa’, said Yakshagana enthusiasts who attended the event.
Explaining the rationale behind his experiment, Suvarna said innovation is a “must” for any art form to connect with all types of audience. “We are following the ideas conceived by Karanth who tried to connect Yakshagana with all. Karanth had tried to popularise Yakshagana through ballet, in which artistes do not deliver dialogues. Instead, the emphasis is on acting.
But, I am trying innovation through steps, dialogues and also expressions. We have not brought any changes at all to Yakshagana which used to be performed with ‘vilambitha laya (slow steps) in olden days”, he says.
Suvarna says ‘vilambitha laya’ which was common earlier is now replaced by modern steps as organisers started to pack in more than one prasanga at a stretch. The fast steps gained acceptance of the audience over a period of time, he observed.
Sumangala Rathnakar, a woman Yakshagana artiste and dance teacher who witnessed the Yakshagana, feels the experiment is good.