Mahesh Padyana and Avinash Baipadityaya (mridangam) -the latter is the son of only woman Yakshagana artiste Leelavathi
Some salient features (my notes cannot be taken as entirely accurate)
Worship of God using song and dance
First mentioned in 13th CE lakshanadIpika – of Palukuriti Somanatha
Classical art but considered folk as it is practised in villages
In addition to singing and nrtya, dialogues exist though this is a recent phenomenon
tALa Maddala – this is a variant that has only story and Maddala. No dance
CheNDa is added for vIra rasa. Singer will also modulate voice to suit the emotion
Earlier this was not Sruti based and cApu was considered enough. Now tambura is used.
Brighas are less and not much scope for manOdharma in music as it is dance based
padAs are sAhitya dominant with emphasis on intonation
Sung in high pitch probably to suit village conditions with no amplifications.
TrishthAyi usage is rare.
Laya and tempo depends on topic chosen. Begins with low tempo and goes to fast pace.
North Karnataka are abhinaya Pradana and slow. South is faster
32 raga/ tala proposed in Parthi Subba text
Chiefly Karnatik ragas
Talas are common Karnatik ones
Merging of talas now done – tripuTa becomes Mishra cApu.
Laghu dhruta anudhruta concepts are absent. The movements are based by sollukaTTus. So these are chiefly naDai variations
TAlA change happens after second nADa
Eka tALa changes to dvikAla Eka – demonstrated
Eka to tisra naDai demonstrated
MadhyamakAla sAhitya can be seen in some songs – demonstrated
Some tAlas have raga names added – mAravi eka , Bhairavi Eka
Jhampa – Mishra – 10 akshara especially when royalty witnesses the dance – demonstrated
aShTa tAla – aTa tAla equivalent – demonstrated
Eka tAla is also known as uDApi – demonstrated
TripuTa is used chiefly in shrngAra rasa – demonstrated
TripuTa to aShTa to Eka demonstrated
RUpaka used in slow tempo , KaruNA rasa – demonstrated
KhaNDa maTya – demonstrated
Adi tALa replaced by Eka
Pappu Venugopala Rao – Yaksha Ganas began in Telugu as a literary form and moved to Karnataka with song and dance. The gait is connected with animal movement. Ashva gati. The word Yaksha comes from jakkulu. Female characters are taken by men. It is not folk but classical.
BM Sundaram – Nayak and Maratha kings wrote Yaksha Ganas and mss are in Saraswathi Mahal. Tyagaraja operas are also referred to as Yaksha Ganas.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan – insightful lecdem – interesting that it moves from Telugu, goes to Kannada and borrows from Malayalam. When you move from tala to tala, the arudi is performed in original tala. Technically speaking 7,3 & 5 are the rhythms though the longer tala names are used. kAmbOji and khaNDa have a bond all over South India. From Ramadasa to other composers several have used it.