Erla Mahipal embarks upon an ambitious task of training womenfolk on traditional folk art
KARIMNAGAR, OCTOBER 02, 2024: To preserve the ancient art of Oggukatha and Oggudolu, a traditional folk form of singing and dancing with drums, the Telangana State Language and Culture Department, in association with the Mallikarjuna Oggu Kala seva samithi- Tadijerry village, Gangadhara mandal, has embarked upon an ambitious task of teaching the Oggudolu art to the younger generation, especially womenfolk.
Accordingly, as part of the preservation of ancient folk art, the organisers have been imparting special training in ‘Bonalu Kolatam’ for the womenfolk for the past 12 days. Around 75 womenfolk from Tadijerry village were participating in the training programme in the 15-day training with daily eight-hour training.
Programme coordinator Erla Mahipal said that they had launched the training programme with the support of the government and the district Oggudolu artists to preserve the age-old folk music form to entertain people. The trainers Badike Kavitha and Edula Maheshwari were training the womenfolk rigorously on balancing the bonam and playing kolatam. He thanked the Minister for Cultural Jupalli Krishna Rao and the Director Department of Language and Culture, Mamidi Harikrishna for their support in encouraging the ancient art form. He said that the closing ceremony of the training would be conducted on October 5, 2024, wherein Choppadandi legislator Medipalli Satyam would attend as chief guest.
Ancient art form
Oggudolu training is being provided by Erla Mahipal, an Oggudolu artiste and native of Tadijerri village of Gangadhara mandal. An MBA graduate, he had left his call centre job to take up art as his profession and teach the art form to the younger generation in the district.
Earlier, Oggudolu artists confined themselves to storytelling about the Hindu gods Mallanna, Yellamma and Beerappa etc. Now, they have changed the format, adding dance performance for entertainment of the audience, says Mr. Mahipal. “We have added adugulu and dharuvulu (steps and beats) to traditional drum beats and performing 32 varieties of drum beats and dance forms including acrobatics, sivathandavam, teenmaar, paanchpataka, omkaram, kolatam, etc,” he said.
New elements
During the training, the drum beaters are being trained in rhythmic beating and dancing to attract the audience, he said and added that they were also training the students on the formation of pyramids and beating drums. Further, tips are given to the trainees on the importance of storytelling to captivate the audience.
Oggukatha is still popular in rural areas. Mr Mahipal says they were invited to perform in functions and during a death in the villages. Moreover, with elections around the corner for local bodies, MLC and Zilla Parishad and Municipality, Oggudolu artists are in much demand. “Politicians hire us for taking out rallies and during the electioneering, to add glam to the campaigning,” he said.
The executive-turned-artiste said he would continue training the younger generation regularly to protect the ancient art from extinction.
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