Oggukatha: Traditional Folk Theatre

Domain:Performing arts

State:

Description:

Oggukatha is a traditional folk theatre form which is an ancient narrative form of Telugu speaking regions. It derives its name from Oggu - a small hand drum associated with Lord Shiva and literally means, oggu-tales. It is performed by the pastoral communities like Kuruma and Golla(Yadavs), of the Deccan plateau. These tradition-loving and ritual-performing troupes move from place to place, narrating the stories of their caste gods. Oggu Poojaris are the traditional priests of the Yadavs and perform the marriage of Mallanna with Bhramaramba. The themes of an Oggukatha performance range from Hindu mythologies to general issues of the society. More than 100 Oggukatha groups exist today, each comprising of 4 to 6 performers. Late Middey Ramulu and Chukka Sattaiah were the most famous artists who made the art form very popular. The performance and its training comprises of ten types of singing styles, dance movements, make-up, costumes, unique use of musical orchestration with instruments etc. Improvisation and imagination are the other major key elements in this form. This makes the learning process more tedious and time consuming. As time are changing, this age-old tradition is undergoing many changes and there is a need to devote attention towards teaching and training methods of this form, in order to pass it down to the next generation. Documentation of the performances of the tradition needs to be done along with a critical analysis of the existing informal modes of teaching and training.