Noted Yakshagana singer-cum-director ‘bhagawatha’ Agari Raghurama passed away here on Sunday. He was 83 and is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Mr. Raghurama, from Surathkal, died in a private hospital in the city at about 10.30 a.m., family sources said.

Hailing from a family of Yakshagana, his father, Agari Srinivasa, was also a well known ‘bhagawatha’ of olden days.

Mr. Raghurama had quit the government job after serving as a clerk in the Education Department for nine years to become a professional artiste. He worked as the ‘bhagawatha’ in the erstwhile Mahammayi Krupaposhita Yakshagana Mandali, Surathkal for three-and-half decades.

Mr. Raghurama had a typical style of singing which became popular as ‘agari shaili’. Some of the contemporary ‘bhagawathas’ in Tenku Thittu school of Yakshagana now sung in the same style to carry it forward.

He was the contemporary of doyens of Yakshagana late Sheni Gopalakrishna Bhat, late Malpe Shankaranarayana Samaga, late Tekkatte Ananda Master and late Puttur Narayana Hegde.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – January 27th, 2019