GADAG: It was 25 years ago when hotelier Kavemshri (short for Kalamanji Venkatagiriyappa Shrinivasa) had a dream. He sought to create a platform where the culture and literary prowess of this great land could breathe, flourish and be preserved for posterity. Through his hard work and passion was realised ‘Kala Chetana’.
The idea of establishing a new cultural organisation was mooted in 1995 after a ‘Kavya Kunch’ cultural programme in Dharwad. Kavemshri was then working as manager of the ‘Gadag Restaurant’ on Station Road in Gadag town. Later, he started his own restaurant, ‘Nesara’, near Tontadarya Mutt.
In those days, Kavemshri would write articles on art, culture and folklore that were published in Kannada magazines, periodicals and daily journals. His writings in the cultural realm further helped him in his drive to set up Kala Chetana. He also watched several dramas and participated in cultural meets in Gadag during his leisure time. One day, he thought, why not bring culture from the other side and introduce it among the natives of his town. Hence, he contacted like-minded friends and sought their guidance to move forward. His goal was to bridge artistes from both the Southern and Northern regions, who together could celebrate culture and performing arts like Yakshagana, Bayalata, Doddata, classical music, drama, and others.
Kala Chetana finally took shape in 1996. Its primary aim was to bring the cultural essence of Karnataka to Gadag, while introducing a host of national and international artists to the people here. In its early days, whenever the organisation planned to have any performances, it would use posters as backgrounds, but in its 10th year, it arranged a theatre show and created a ‘ranga sajjike’ (theatre decoration), a first for Gadag. Similarly, Kala Chetana would pioneer several novel ideas, while continuing to embrace its drive to rekindle cultural ties through the arts.
In his journey, Kannada writer Chandrashekhar Vastrad and printer Vishwanath Nalawadad rendered constant support to Kavemshri, since the inception of Kala Chetana, especially in organising programmes there.
Further, Kavemshri invited Yakshagana and Doddata artistes, singers, educationists, writers, musicians, and felicitated them. The aim was to introduce new themes among discerning patrons and offer a platform for young artists to vie for success.
And so it has come to be! Kala Chetana held its 25th anniversary celebrations last month. “Our intention is to act as a bridge between artistes and art lovers in Gadag. I am also blessed to be in touch with great writers like Shivaram Karanth and Poornachandra Tejaswi. Earlier I used to write my name as KV Shrinivas, but Poornachandra Tejaswi changed my name to Kavemshri. I am thankful to my team for supporting me in steering the organisation successfully to its 25th year,” Kavemshri said.
“Kala Chetana has been instrumental and innovative, especially in bringing three generations of artistes and resource persons from different professions to Gadag,” Basavanneppa (Raju) Sankeshwar, vice-president of Kala Chetana, concluded.
THREE GENERATIONS OF ARTISTES
Kala Chetana members invited three generations of artistes – Pandit Venkatesh Godakhindi, Pandit Praveen Godakhindi and Kumar Shadaj Godakhindi – to perform in one musical concert in Gadag, for its 10th anniversary. This year, father-and-son duo Pandit Praveen Godakhindi and Kumar Shadaj Godakhindi performed at the silver jubilee celebrations
‘SHRI’ AWARDS
As the founder’s name contains the word ‘Shri’, Kavemshri and other members have been presenting awards in the names of ‘Nadashri’, ‘Kalashri’, ‘Natyashri’, ‘Gayanashri’, ‘Rangashri’, ‘Abhinayashri’, ‘Ankanashri’ and ‘Varnashri’ each year. Till today, more than 100 renowned writers, musicians, folk artistes and theatre personalities have received awards from Kala Chetana that end with ‘Shri’