Gandalf

Saturday, January 29, 2011

ಜಾನಪದ ಲೋಕ

http://www.janapadaloka.org/
http://www.janapadaloka.org/

HL Nagegowda. Bio: http://www.janapadaloka.org/en_index.html

H.L. Nage Gowda (Kannada: ಎಚ್.ಎಲ್. ನಾಗೕಗೌಡ) (February 11, 1915 – September 22, 2005) was a prominent Kannada folklorist and author. He received a number of awards in his lifetime, both for his writing and for his work in conserving and propagating folk traditions.
Nage Gowda was born in Heraganahalli village in Mandya district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. He studied science and law, before becoming a civil servant. He was made an officer of the Indian Administrative Service in 1960. Starting from the 1970s, Nage Gowda wrote a number of literary works in Kannada. Doddamane ("The big house") won critical acclaim for its portrayal of the culture of rural southern Karnataka, and was one of the works that won him the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award. He also wrote several other novels, two collections of poetry, collections of short stories and essays, and a travelogue.
In 1979, Nage Gowda founded the Karnataka Janapada Parishat, an academy devoted to the study and propagation of traditional folk arts in Karnataka. In 1986, he started work Janapada Loka, a museum of the folk arts located in Ramnagaram, around 53 kilometres from Bangalore, which opened to the public in 1994. He also wrote a number of books documenting folk traditions and artforms, and organised festivals, seminars and workshops to promote them.
Nage Gowda's work received significant recognition in his lifetime. He won a number of awards, including the Rajyotsava Award, the Pampa Prashasti, the Nadoja Prashasti and the Sandesha Award. He served in the Karnataka State Government as a member of the Legislative Council from 1995 until 2001. In 2002, Serpentine Road in Bangalore was renamed Dr H L Nage Gowda Road in his honour.
H.L. Nage Gowda died on September 22, 2005 at his residence. As a mark of respect, the annual Rajajinagar cultural festival, the Rajajinagar Habba was dedicated to his memory and was organised around a theme of folk arts.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković), pronounced [ˈnɔvɑk ˈdʑɔːkɔvitɕ] ( listen) (born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player, who is currently ranked the World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

He has won one Grand Slam singles title, the 2008 Australian Open, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events. He was also the runner-up at the 2007 and 2010 US Open tournaments, and a bronze medalist representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games. In addition, Djokovic won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and has won five Masters Series tournaments. Djokovic's highest ranking to date is No.2 achieved in 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novak_Djokovic
http://www.novakdjokovic.rs/index.php?jezik=2

Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras (pronounced /ˈsæmprəs/; born August 12, 1971) is a retired American tennis player and former World No. 1. During his 15-year tour career, he won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, which at the time of his retirement was the most that any male player had achieved, although he was surpassed in 2009 by Roger Federer. He had a 203–38 win-loss record over 52 Grand Slam singles tournament appearances. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.[2][3]

Sampras debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when he won the US Open, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final. He was the year-end World No. 1 for six consecutive years (1993–1998), a record for the open era. His seven Wimbledon singles championships is a record shared with William Renshaw. He spent 286 weeks at top of List of ATP number 1 ranked players, the most of any player. His five US Open singles titles is an open-era record shared with former World No. 1 players Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer. He won five ATP World Tour Finals a record shared with Ivan Lendl. Sampras is the last American male to win Wimbledon.
http://www.petesampras.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sampras

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Rafael Nadal

Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 in the world. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time. Nadal has won nine Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the 7th player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after Andre Agassi.

Monday, January 3, 2011

ಕೆರೆಮನೆ ಶಂಭುಹೆಗ್ಡೆ ( 1938 - 2009)

Shri Keremane Shambhu Hegade ( Born, June 10, 1938) is no more. He expired on February 3, 2009 while performing his favorite character Shri Rama in an episode called Kusha –Lava, at his birth place called Gunavante, a tiny village in Honnavara Taluk, Karnataka State. He has been performing Badagu tittu (Northern Style) Yakshagana from more than 50 years. His contribution to the development of Yakshagana is unique and unparallel. He worked as an artist, organizer, innovator and researcher. His success in all these roles is highly commendable. He brought century old Yakshagana into a new height with his brilliant ideas. Through his ‘Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali’, Shri Shambhu Hegade brought freshness into every aspect of the Yakshagana theater. Though he is the son of another great artist, Keremane Shivarama Hegde, Mr. Shambhu Hegade, made Yakshagana of his own with his luminous ideas and an imaginative application of them with out breaking the traditional canvas. Some of the characters portrayed by Shambhu Hegde were that of Harischandra, Salva, Bhishma, Dhuryodhana, Dushtabuddhi, Karna, Shrirama, Hanuman, Kartavirya, and Jarasandha. As we all know, originally Yakshagana was performed for the rural audience, but with his command on artists, Shambhu Hegade changed the history and gave new dimension to Yakshagana theater which was appreciated even by the urban audience. He broke the linguistic boundaries of the theater and performed in many parts of India. Few times, he took up the arduous task of presenting Yakshagana to global audience. As an excellent demonstrator, he introduced the art to the various linguistic communities like Tamilians, Telugas, Marathis, and Maleyalis and North Indians. In his troupe he always encouraged the artists to introduce many varieties of novelty which have enriched the art. Above all, with his extraordinary command on English and Hindi language, he became a powerful ambassador of the art during all the Regional, National, and International tours of the ‘Idagunji mela’ He is responsible for the many honors the troupe received from the various reputed organizations. He gave the Yakshagana Theater a place of honor and distinction. He was awarded Sangit Nataka Academy and Karnataka State awards for his unique contribution to the theater. He served as the president of Karnataka Janapada Academy and also a member of Central Sangith Natak academy. He was a member of the Governing body of the South Zone Cultural Centre.
Shri Shambhu Hegde, revolutionized the Yakshagana theater. His influence could be seen in almost at every stage of the Yakshagana performance today. This was just possible because of his rare genius, untiring efforts, spirit of enquiry and experiment. Yakshagana theater gained liveliness and new appeal. Now, the Yakshgana could effectively compete with other major forms of theater and hold its head high as a great art form.