THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Vighneswara (god of good luck) hymns started with the singer and the background music. The musicians were elegantly dressed and seated on a raised platform for the audience to see.
Similar to Kathakali, a curtain was brought by two actors and again a Vighneswara symbol was placed in the middle of the curtain, with a main actor behind. ‘Yakshagana,’ a not-so-familiar artform in Kerala, performed at the Chavara Cultural Centre, Kozhikode, the other day, attracted a reasonable crowd. Shivananda Hegde, team leader of the performance which was presented by Sri Idagunji Mahaganapati Yakshagana Mandali, says that once a platform is offered by the Kerala audience, they do not give much importance to remuneration. All that they need is appreciation of the audience here.
“We have been performing for almost four years in front of the art-loving crowd of Kerala, the land of Kathakali. The response was immensely positive and by now we have performed at various venues in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kozhikode,” says Shivananda Hegde.
For him, entry into the field was quite natural. Led by his grandfather Keremane Shivarama Hegde in 1934, Idagunji Mahaganapati Yakshagana Mandali was formed to promote the traditional dance drama of Karnataka. Later, the troupe was run by Keremane Shambhu Hegde, father of Shivananda Hegde. At the age of 12, Shivananda started learning the artform and he says a minimum of five years is needed to master the art.
For the past 30 years, he has been actively involved in the field and works to take the troupe to new heights. Started as an artform meant to be performed in the open fields after rains, Yakshagana is also performed indoors these days. The art is very popular in Karnataka and gets good audience, but nowadays, youngsters are not much interested in taking it up as a full-time profession.
“As the time passes, youngsters are more interested in choosing a career that gives them financial and job security. Dance, especially Yakshagana, thrives more among people who have a love for art. But they are not much interested in learning the artform from the gurus or in the residential style. The intervention of online media is spoiling the dance form. Youngsters tend to learn through Youtube and that dilutes the artform,” he says.
Minimum 15 characters are needed to perform a Yakshagana. ‘Gadayudham,’ ‘Duryodhana Vadham,’ ‘Vaali Moksham,’ ‘Krishna Santhana’ and ‘Karnarjuna’ are the popular ones. There are also slight differences in the performance of Tenkutittu (south) and Badagutittu (north) styles. The similarity of Yakshagana to Kathakali lies in the rich costume. But, Yakshagana is a fine blend of traditional, classical and folk art and the artistes also narrate after the Bhagavat (singer).
Navarasam Trust and Chavara Cultural Centre, in association with Sahapedia, an NGO-based in New Delhi, are organising intangible heritage arts of India with the financial support of the Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Academy in September, October, November and December.