Karnataka, a southern state in India, has a distinct art style and culture informed by a long history of diverse linguistic and religious ethnicities. Apart from Kannadigas, Karnataka is home to Tuluvas, who also consider themselves as Kannadigas. Minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists, Siddhi tribes, and a few other ethnic groups also live in Karnataka.
The traditional folk arts are major theatrical forms in coastal Karnataka. Contemporary theatre culture in Karnataka is one of the most vibrant in India, with organizations like Ninasam, Ranga Shankara, and Rangayana on foundations laid by the Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company. Veeragase, Kamsale, and Dollu Kunitha are popular dance forms. Bharatanatya also enjoys wide patronage in Karnataka.
Music
Karnataka is the only Indian state where singers flourish. North Karnataka is predominantly famous for Hindustani music and South Karnataka is well known for Carnatic music.
With the rise of Vaishnavism and the Haridasa movement came Karnataka composers like Purandaradasa, whose Kannada language works were lucid, devotional and cultural and hence appealing to the masses. Other haridasas of medieval times were Kanakadasa, Vyasatirtha, Jayatirtha, Sripadaraya, Vadirajatirtha etc., who composed several devara nama. One of the earliest and prominent composers in South India was the saint, and wandering bard of yore Purandara Dasa. Though historians claim Purandara Dasa composed 75,000 - 475,000 songs in Sanskrit and Kannada,[1] only a few hundred of them are known today.[2][3] He was a source of inspiration to the later composers like Tyagaraja.[4] Owing to his contribution to the Carnatic Music he is referred to as the Father of Carnatic Music (Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha).[3][5][6]
Purandaradasa codified and consolidated the teaching of Carnatic music by evolving several steps like sarali, jantai(Janti), thattu varisai (Thattu Varise), alankara and geetham (geethe) and laid down a framework for imparting formal training in this art form.[7] Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, the haridasa movement would once again contribute to music in Karnataka in the form of haridasas such as Vijaya Dasa, Gopaladasa, Jagannathadasa who are just a few among a vast galaxy of devotional saints.[8][9][10][11]
Folk music is popular in Karnataka. Many singers have recorded numerous folk songs in Kannada including B. K. Sumitra, Bangalore Latha, B. R. Chaya and many. Folk songs including Bhagyada balegara, Nimbiya Banada, Ghallu Ghallenuta, Munjaneddu Kumbaranna, Mayadantha Male Bantanna, Maralladyane and many, are popular, recreated and reused in films as well.
Yakshagana a form of dance drama is one of the major theatrical forms in coastal Karnataka. A fusion of folk and classical tradition makes Yakshagana a unique form of art which includes colourful costumes, music, dance, singing, and most importantly dialogs composed on the fly. Award-winning performers include Keremane Shambhu Hegde, Chittani Ramachandra Hegde. Yakshagana and Dollu Kunitha are two of the popular dance forms of Karnataka. Gamaka is a unique music form based on Karnataka Sangeetha.
Pilivesha a dance form popularly displayed on the streets and temples around the coastal Karnataka. The speciality of this dance form is that it requires the dancer to paint his body with the picture of a tiger
^Madhusudana Rao CR. "Sri Purandara Dasaru". Dvaita Home Page (www.dviata.org). Archived from the original on 30 November 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
^ abOwing to his contributions to carnatic music, Purandaradasa is known as Karnataka Sangita PitamahaDr. Jytosna Kamat. "Purandara Dasa". Kamats Potpourri. Archived from the original on 8 December 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
^Jackson, William J. (1982). "Tyagaraja". Journal of the Music Academy, Madras. LIII: 88.
^Madhusudana Rao CR. "Sri Purandara Dasaru". Dvaita Home Page. Archived from the original on 30 November 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
^S. Sowmya, K. N. Shashikiran. "History of Music". Srishti's Carnatica Private Limited. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
^Kamath, Suryanath U. (2001). A Concise History of Karnataka: (from Pre-historic Times to the Present). Bangalore: Jupiter Books. p. 283. OCLC634688073.
