Mysuru: A street play by the Rangahejje troupe was staged before the Folk Festival at Kindari Jogi. The Play was about 21st century man  his tendency to pollute nature. It also portrayed the destruction that deforestation and urbanisation caused.

Rakta Ratri by Natana Kalamitra Mandali, Bellary was performed at Kalamandir. The Yakshagana performance ‘Papanna Vijaya Gunasundari’ was offered free to the public.

“Folklore is akin to mothers. Mothers are always sidelined in the house, but the house survives on the strength of the mothers”, renowned folklorist Krishnamurthy Hanur  said at the inauguration of the Folk Festival, Bahuroopi 2015 at Vanaranga.

The folk festival is a tradition in Bahuroopi. The Karnataka Janapada Academy, Bengaluru along with the Thanjavur counterpart is supporting the festival.

 “I sat outside Sriajji’s house for three years and wrote down every song she sang. And when Rangayana honoured her a few years back I said I have documented every song, which Siriajji denied and promptly sang a song I had not documented” folklorist Krishnamurthy Hanur narrated about the undying nature of folklore. The fire of folklore burns slowly and forever, just like Shakespeare who will live forever.

“Shakespeare is a folk writer, he writes of the a poet who combines the heavens and the earth. That is what our folk lore does, it talks of the pain of the world and the magic of the heavens” Hanur added. He also said the government does need to support folk artists from the encroachment of modernity.

Chairman of the Karnataka Janapada Academy, Pichchalli Srinivas also spoke at the event about the importance of respecting folk artists. “No one thinks about the financial security of the folk artists. If we don’t change our mindsets and begin to think about saving the parampare of folk then our children will grow up listening to badly written Kannada film songs” he added.

Deputy Director of Rangayana SL Bhavikatte, Registrar of the Karnataka Janapada Academy Baraddi were also present at the event. Renowned folk singer Basavalingiah Hiremath sang at the event as well.

Director of Rangayana, Janardhan speaking at the inauguration of the event spoke of Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘Beastly Tales.’

“We asked Shah to perform in Mysuru because we wanted him to share his years of experience with the people of Mysuru. And since we are a government organisation, we are obliged to pay them a fee. But their fee was outside Rangayana’s budget. Rs. 2, 28,900 was collected from the tickets, about 1750 people watched the play. Rs. 90,000 was collected from the seminars. This money has gone towards paying the Motley Troupe. Some people thought Prakash Rai had sponsored the whole play, but it’s not so.”