Concert, Ramkaka and I, reveal the tests and victory of the Jogati community of Karnataka

Shilpa Mudbi Kothakota (researcher, singer, artist, theater artist and documentary filmmaker) and Jogati Ramkaka (transgender women and folk artists from northern Karnataka) share a great camera. Both have now prepared a concert, Ramka and meSpecialty of self. The Center was recently introduced by the Fort Community Dialogue and Change (CCDC) at the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru.

Earlier, he also performed at Suchitra Cinema and Cultural Academy. Concerts held in an intimate setting became a dialogue between the artists and the audience.

“We are not always looking at it to take it to the prochem. She even organizes Choudki workshops to encourage people to learn to play it.

Shilpa has always been invested in the life of Jogetis – Transgender individuals and folk artists, dedicated to the worship of Goddess Yalemma – a marginalized community. In 2012, Shilpa set Karnataka’s forgotten or determined to document the fading folk art forms, and in 2017, with her husband Adithya Kothakota, established the urban folk project. It aims to highlight and represent various communities in urban settings.

Shilpa and Ramka are performing at the Center for Community Dialogue and Change (CCDC) at the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Growing in Bengaluru, Shilpa felt a disconnect between urban and rural life. She agreed to folklore, searching for her own Dalit-Bahjan roots. It was working on a drama on the Sri Lankan Civil War in Puducherry, she was engaged in the folk forms of Yalemma practiced in North Karnataka. In this ritual performance, Joghetis and Devadasis sing and dance, Renuka reflects the life story of Yelmma, showing how Renuka, Parashurama’s mother, turned into a revered Yalemma.

Talking about the idea behind starting the urban folk project, Shilpa says, “Those who earn the most from folk demonstrations are not those who are practicing these art forms from generations. There is not much understanding about what is the public and which is related to it.”

Ramka Jogati | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Shilpa, along with her family, left the bustle and stir of Bengaluru to make Kalaburgi home and created a place for research, performance, residence and workshops that are engrossed in Jogetis and her life world. Earlier, for two years, Shilpa and Adithya held Yalemma Storytailing sessions at Cuban Park Bandstand in Bengaluru. During the epidemic, through the urban folk project, he streamed his sessions from Kalaburagi.

Shilpa met Ramka in 2019, when both of them recorded ‘Audi Ba Magane Rama, Noduve Kanina Tumba’ (Aao, my son Ram, let me look at my heart content). Very few people knew that the song would go viral and later included in the film Kannada, Oorina Gramastharalli Vinanthi. The song was sung by Jogetis – Ramka, Manjamma, Anjal Him and Govaramma.

After spending years with the jogetis, Shilpa is also aware of her struggles – she is still afraid, who are mutually rivals and are sensitive to diseases. Shilpa says, “I have interacted with her so much that I have understood what sexuality and gender mean.”