Siddakatte Chennappa Shetty

Siddakatte Chennappa Shetty in thala-maddale

Siddakatte Chennappa Shetty (born 8 May 1952 at Rayee village; died 22 March 2014 in Manipal, Mangalore) was a Yakshagana artist from Siddakatte, Bantwal taluk near Mangalore, Karnataka. Siddakatte was well known for his oratory skills in Yakshagana and Tala-Maddale.

Personal life

Siddakatte was the second son of Vasu Shetty and Lingamma. His parents died when he was young. He attended school until he reached the fifth standard of the Indian education system. Siddakatte chose Yakshagana as his career. He resided in Bantwal.

Career

Siddakatte made his Yakshagana debut in 1965 after being trained at Yakshagana Kendra Dharmashala under the guidance of Kuriya Vittal Shastri and Padre Chandu. He also studied the basics of Karnataka classical music to understand Yakshagana background music and its instruments. Thereafter, he moved to Dharmastala, Kadri, Bappanadu, Kumble and Madhur Mela. Focusing primarily on his oratory skills, he took guidance from Kuthlodi Vasu Shetty, Prabhakar Joshi, Korgi Venkateshwara Upadhyaya and Shimanthoor Narayana Shetty. He admired and tried to emulate Agari Shirinivas Bhagawatha's extraordinary personality and disciplined lifestyle.

Badaguthittu (northern form) invited him because of his popularity in the southern form. He made his entry through Perdoor Mela and after to Saligrama. He learnt badagutittu naatya from Heranjalu Yenkataramana. He was one of the very few successful artists who moved from thenkuthittu to badaguthittu. He came back to theenkuthittu through Yedaneer mela after being several years in badaguthittu.

Shetty was a great collector of books and articles. He had deep knowledge on Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagavatha and few other Indian literatures. He collected more than two thousand books in his personal library. He was known for his great voice, clean pronunciation and enunciation, tactical derivation of stories and sub-stories from Puranas in conversation, and utilization of proverbs and Sanskrit Shloka at appropriate situations in a timely manner.

Awards

Siddakatte was solicited by different firms in India and in gulf countries. He was awarded with a Karnataka Rajyothsava district award in 2009.[1] He was identified as "mathina malla" in Yakshagana and the Tala-Maddale world.

Death

Siddakatte died of a stroke on 22 March 2014 at Kasturba hospital Manipal, Mangalore. Thousands of his fans and colleagues gathered at his residence for his final rituals.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Karnataka Rajyotsava District award for Yakshagana Deccan Herald, 2 November 2006
  2. ↑ Yakshagana exponent Chennappa Shetty dies The Hindu, 23 March 2014
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