Artistes need to re-dedicate themselves to bring changes in Yakshagana and make this art form more appealing to the national and international audience, said Yakshagana artiste and critic M. Prabhakara Joshi.
Speaking after receiving the prestigious ‘Partha Subba’ award, instituted by Karnataka Yakshagana Bayalata Academy here on Saturday, Mr. Joshi said that artistes should think in a different way to strengthen Yakshangana and make it more appealing.
This art should be better packaged and documented and it requires lot of funds, which the academy cannot give. Artistes should look for corporate sponsorship, he said.
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Mr. Joshi said that changes needed to be brought in the way artistes dress up, the style of narration and other aspects of the fine art.
“We (artistes) do not think twice while tying ‘gejje’ as we are involved in it. But there are people watching it. We need to be aware of it,” Mr. Joshi said.
Partha Subba, who is known as founder Tenku Thittu Yakshagana, introduced Chande and Maddale instruments and gave a new dimension to Yakshagana presentation. The spirit of Partha Subba within artistes should awaken, he said.
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The start of the function was delayed by nearly an hour as Minister of State for Kannada and Culture Umashree failed to attend the event.
In her absence, academy president Belagallu Veeranna presented the award to Mr. Joshi.
He also presented honorary awards to Subraya Venkatramana Bhatta, Gopalakrishna Kurup, Heranjalu Subbanna Ganiga, Usha Rani, Tukarama Maruti Nayika, Vilasabai Mageppa Rayannavara, Narahari Shastri, Chikka Chowdaiah Naika, Ningappa Torangagatte and Srinivasa Sastana.