Mumbai Famous Yakshagan singer and screenwriter Balipa Narayan Bhagwat has said goodbye to this world. Balipa Narayan Bhagwat breathed his last at his residence in Karnataka. He was 84 years old. The singer is survived by three sons Madhav, Shashidhar and Shivshankar. All three are Yakshagana playback singers. His wife Jayalakshmi died before him.
Bhagwat had a strong fan following. He had mastered his style of singing, due to which fans named it as ‘Balipa Style’. It was quite different from other singers. Bhagwat has written more than 30 Yakshagana ‘Prasanga’ (scripts). Balipa Narayan Bhagwat served the art of Yakshagana for more than 60 years. He first started the Padre Jatadari fair. He knew more than 50 episodes of Yakshagana, out of which 30 were published. He has been honored with many awards.
Let us tell you that Balipa Narayan Bhagwat was born on March 19, 1938 in Padre village of Kasargod, Kerala. Later his family shifted to Maruru. He belonged to a family of Yakshagana artists. He had worked as an artiste for many years at the Kateel Durgaparameshwari Yakshagana Mela. Apart from this, he had composed many episodes and songs of Yakshagana.
