Chipparu: his beats, his feats, his height.......

Reading obituaries of Chipparu Krishnayya Ballal in blogs and today's newspapers, I found many interesting things about him. That he belonged to the Vitla Royal family; that his entry into the Dharmasthala troupe marked the end of a long-standing disharmony between the Dharamasthala Heggades and the Vitla Royal family; that he was instrumental in getting Kadathoka Manjunatha Bhagavatha from badabadagutittu to Tenkutittu and he formed a great pair with this Bhagavatha to experiment with new styles of background music in Dharmasthala troupe; that he gave a great maddale support to the lilting tunes of the Late Damodarama Mandechcha; that he excelled in jodata (two simultaneous competitive performances); that he had highly independent views about the tradition of Yakshagana music; that his chende (drum) beats pleased a visiting Russian President in the 1950s; that he was one of the very few who had to their credit awards from both Kerala and Karnataka governments and so on.

I also heard from a friend that Chipparu's innovation, along with those of a few of his contemporaries, blurred the distinction between mrudangam and maddale beats. My friend sounded a bit unhappy about it. Of course, I am not an expert in understanding these tenchicalities of Yakshagana music but I kept wondering how all these interesting things about this artiste remained unknown to many of us when he was alive. I had been searching for a good profile of Chipparu for a long time but I found none - no festschrift, no book chapter; not even a comprehensive newspaper article. I think, however, Chipparu's is the most widely used picture in newspaper articles. I clearly remember when Udayavani carried a full page article on Yakshagana on its Sunday supplement a few years ago, Chipparu's full-size picture was positioned along the left side of the page, and it appeared so much like his posture on a rangasthala...

Of the various personal accounts written about him today, I found interesting Raj Kumar's discription of Chipparu in response to Subramahmanya Bhat's post in Ballirenayya. Raj Kumar describes the left rear corner (where chende player stands in Tenkutittu) of Dharamathala troupe's stage as 'Chipparu corner.' Yes, as long as Chipparu was in the troupe it was a great sight to see his towering personality occupying that corner with his hands deftly moving on chende. I distinctly remember how he sometimes used to play chende with his eyes closed.

As several people have mentioned, just as his tall figure Chipparu's stoic face was another distinct aspect of his personality. I have never seen emotions on his face change no matter what was happening on the stage. That was a great stage discipline and there is a lesson for some of the contemporary background musicians who keep chatting among themselves or gesturing to friends in the audience when a serious plot unfolds on the stage.

More than anything else, it was a great feat to be active on the stage till the ripe age of 81...

Listen to a very short audio clip in which Sheni Gopala Krishna Bhat describes Chipparu as a carrier of the legacy of some of the great himmela (background music) artistes of Tenkutittu Yakshagana


Read a profile of Chipparu by Dr Purushothama Bilimale

Read a touching obituary by Raj Kumar in his blog Yakshachintana

Read Subramanya Bhat's tribute to Chipparu in his blog Ballirenayya

In picture Chipparu gives his last performance on Sunday (April 26) in Bangalore. Thanks to Subrahmanya Bhat for sharing this picture