Kannada Boy Becomes Professional Chande Player After Learning From YouTube Videos

The children of the present generation are addicted to phones. Recently, an incident took place in Bankikodla village, Gokarna district of North Karnataka. This contradicts parents’ argument that children learn nothing by using phones all day. A 16-year-old boy named Mangesh Amit Nadkarni was crazy about Yakshagana (a dance art form). There were no teachers who could teach him. He focussed more on Yakshagana than on his education. Five years ago, he became enthusiastic about a Chande player named Sujan Kumar Haladi. Mangesh then decided to learn Chande. It is a drum used in the traditional and classical music of South India and particularly in Yakshagana theatre art of Karnataka. Mangesh Amit Nadkarni saw Sujan’s Chande on YouTube and practised it continuously.

After playing Chande tirelessly day and night for two years, Mangesh now works with his professionals as a Chande player; he even plays it on big fairs. Besides, he also studies PU Commerce at AV Baliga College. Because of the way he learnt this instrument, many people admire Mangesh. Now, he has a great desire to continue pursuing the profession of a Chande player.

Chande instrument follows the Yakshagana-Tala system. The rhythms are based on pre-classical music forms, on which Karnataka Sangeta and Hindustani Sangeetha are based. There are different variants of this instrument; two main variants are the Badagu Thittu Chande (northern school) and the Thenku Thittu Chande (southern school). The latter can also be written as Chenda and is used exclusively in the art forms of the southern coasts of Karnataka and Kerala. The Chande used in Badagu Thittu is structurally and acoustically different from the Chenda used in Kerala.