If you want to learn Kannada but don’t want to be confined to a classroom, head to the Rangoli Art Centre on MG Road between 4 p.m. and 4.45 p.m. on Sunday, where KannadaGottilla.com will be adding a melodious touch to its offline lessons.
“This is the first time professional musicians will be coming to teach Kannada. Anything taught through music can be grasped and remembered easily,” said Anup Maiya, co-founder of KannadaGottilla.com, an initiative that teaches Kannada primarily through WhatsApp and also holds regular monthly classes for a nominal fee.
Vocalist Vasu Dixit and guitarist Hemant Jois have offered to be part of the Kannada teaching initiative, said Mr. Maiya. “Vasu Dixit attended one of our Kannada classes at Rangoli. And he wanted to be part of the initiative. Immediately he offered his services and said he would take it up musically,” Mr. Maiya said.
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Hemant Jois is equally excited about the initiative. “When I met Hemant, he said learning a language with music could be fun. He was happy to be there with his guitar,” Mr. Maiya said.
Mr. Dixit, who is known for popularising the language through his videos with poems of Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa and musical compositions, said teaching Kannada through music is a great idea as people will find the words easier to remember. “Our senses are oriented that way, melody makes it easier to remember the words,” he said.
During the session on Sunday, Mr. Dixit and Mr. Jois will distribute the lyrics of various songs in English and Kannada and will explain and teach them through music. “We hope that people will record [the session] and practice [the words] later,” Mr. Dixit said.
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When asked if melody could become a permanent part of the offline classes of KannadaGottilla.com, Mr. Maiya said, “If musicians come forward to teach the language this way, nothing is going to stop us. After all, we have trained nearly 4,000 people in two years mainly through our daily WhatsApp classes. With music, the number is only going to increase.”