Folk form at its best

Scintillating feat

The fest commenced with a performance by Kamsaale Nruthya, a folk form of dance in praise of Lord Mahadeshwara, which was presented gracefully by a team of Kamsaale artistes from Malai Mahadeshwara Hills.

It represented the best of folk cultural form and showcased scintillating acrobatics with rigorous and rhythmic clanging of heavy cymbals electrifying the atmosphere.

The audience were thoroughly enthralled by the feat, which displayed intense acrobatic skills. The performance also received much appreciation as the team exhibited their stupendous dexterity in balancing the act, mounting on each other and forming a
pyramidal structure.

The event saw the presence of many eminent personalities from the small screen and theatre. Sreenivas G Kappanna, a well-known face in the realm of theatre and on the small screen. While inaugurating the event said, “Folk is the mother of all theatre and art forms, the roots of modern theatre are linked to folk forms and I think it’s a wonderful platform for people to perform and showcase their talents, at a personal level, I feel it is outstanding to be a part of it.”

Girish Karnad felicitated the Kamsaale artistes on their performance and said, “The festival represents the whole of folk and cultural dramatic forms from all over India and intends to look at all such forms and hopes to understand both the innate richness of each form as well as its place in the complex network that ties all of them together.”
Umesh, a traffic inspector, who was at the fest with his son to watch the performance, was simply enchanted by it.

“I hail from a place where these folk arts originated. I was so happy to see them perform at Bangalore and that too at Ranga Shankara. These days, people barely know the value of such art forms and I wanted my son also to watch such performances and realise the value of it,” he said. Poornima, who came to watch the performance, said, “If Shankar Nag is still remembered today, it is only because of Ranga Shankara, and I feel so happy to learn the different forms of folk theatre here.”

The next performance was the Assamese play, Ram Vijay, which revolved around the Sattriya art form. It was performed by the Uttar Kamalabari Sattra troupe.

The festival is showcasing 17 folk art forms from across India, some of which are rare and extraordinary. The extravaganza is on till November 1.