Hailing from the most backward Uppar Community of Karnataka, Doddagavi Basappa of Dodda Mole village in Chamrajnagar district, stands tall today in his native and neighbouring villages. He is on a mission to inculcate interest in folk music in the younger generation to check what has been a steep decline in the number of folk artistes in the state.
Basappa is a Neelagar, folk singers who dwell on mythological themes popular in these parts. Basappa plays the tanpura and can sing more than 3,000 folk songs in a week on mythological themes and characters like Siddappaji, Rachappaji, Malle Mahadeshwara, Manteswamy, Mudugathore Malappa and Biligiriranganathaswamy.
As part of the tradition, Basappa with his brother C Banagara Shetty and brother-in-law P Siddashetty seek alms on Mondays and Fridays, singing songs dedicated to Lord Mahadeshwara in Chinnikatte Mole, Beramalu, Haradanahalli, Amchavadi and Doddamole on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. On other days they tutor children in folk art and encourage performance of budding talents.
As a boy, Basappa was impressed with the performance of Neelagar Krishnappa, a renowned orator, who was known for his discourse on mythological characters. Basappa joined him for two years. Later, his brother too joined him. They together with Krishnappa performed in many public functions.
Now, Basappa has managed to pick 20 school going boys from Doddamole and his neighboring villages and dedicated himself to teaching them Neelagar folk songs and Kamsale (unique folk art performed by the devotees of God Mahadeshwara).
With no place to conduct classes, Basappa waits for the children near a temple on the outskirts of the village, to hold classes. The boys have performed at Dussehra celebrations in Bangalore. “With alms raised on Monday and Friday, it is enough to feed my family . The rest of the week is spared for these boys to master their technique as Kamsale and Neelagar artistes,” he says.
Although he has been asked by the Kannada Culture Department and South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur to train the youth as Neelagar and Kamsale artists, he feels that the project should be for one year to train the budding talents. Basappa has also made it a point not to teach school dropouts. “I have not attended any school. But, I want every child to be educated for socio-economic empowerment ,” he says.
Vijay, a Class IX student says, “We are respected in the school for our performance during functions. I want to master Kamsale as well as continue my studies.” While Murali, a Class X student, says he along with his friends have decided to spare three months for Neelagar training after the board examination. Initially unimpressed, they too developed interest after their performance was well appreciated at Bangalore and other cities.
