To spread the message of love, peace, and tolerance Naada Maninalkur, a singer and former Yakshagana artist has been on a journey across the State. The journey — Karnataka Yatre — began on July 25 this year at Kodagu and has covered 28 districts of the State so far.
Bhaskara, 37, a native of Maninalkur near Bantwala in Dakshina Kannada district, became ‘Naada’ after he began the journey of music with Ekatari (tamboori) six years ago.
Naada has been travelling to Chikkamagaluru and Hassan districts for the last one week. He performed at many places including the residence of late writer K.P. Poornachandra Tejaswi near Mudigere.
So far, he has interacted with hundreds of schoolchildren, college students and youth across the State. Naada has chosen songs of Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Janardhan Kesaragadde, Krishnamurthy Bilikere, Srinivasa Karkala, Girish Handalagere among others for his programme. “The songs I choose convey the message of equality, peace, brotherhood, harmony, and tolerance. These songs convey the message needed for the present times”, he said.
Born into a family of Beedi workers, Bhaskara got introduced to Yakshagana after II PUC and learnt the art at Dharmasthala Yakshagana Kendra and later gave performances for over 10 years.
During his days of Yakshagana, he had named his room ‘Naada’, which means ‘musical sound’ and later it became his name.
“In Yakshagana, I could notice gender-based discrimination. I have grown up in the system, where women had a prominent role to play in a family, but I was part of an art form where women were discriminated against. Moreover, the art form in a way defended the caste-based hierarchy. Gradually, I distanced myself from Yakshagana”, he said. He worked as a journalist for a few years before he got introduced the musical instrument Ekatari.
In a workshop for youth in Bengaluru, poet Janardhan Kesaragadde gifted Naada his Ekatari. Since then, the instrument has been part of his life.
“I will continue my journey and perform wherever possible. My focus is to interact with the youth. This has been a memorable experience,” Naada said.
