Mohan Kumar N

Mohan Kumar is a young talented musician of folk art forms in Karnataka.  His understanding of the richness of oral traditions comes from his grandmother, Kengamma, a well known folk singer from Tambuganahatti, Tumakur. Being an employee of Karnataka Janapada Vishwavidyalaya, he has showcased his performances in many institutions.

Given his very strong community network, for this grant, his project focuses on using local folk art resources to train children from fifth, sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Hulasogi, Shiggavi taluk, Haveri District, in movement and song based art forms. He has identified the Kolata or the stick-dance where groups of dancers bend, sway and jump to the tune of rhythmic clashing of sticks as the main form that will guide this project. The students will be trained to exercise their bodies and experience the flow and rhythm of folk music. Practicing it on a regular basis, he hopes, will bring a sense of discipline, dexterity and flexibility of bodies and a sense of aesthetics of movement among children as well as an understanding of the folk art form. He would then select poems from curricular texts that have a certain compositional metric built into it, which will be adapted to Kolata. The engagement will conclude with a celebratory performance with the artists, children and the parent community coming together in the school.

The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will include photographs from the workshops and audio video recording of the performance.

This grant is made possible with support from Citi India.