Gayaka Shekhar Jagannath Behera
Born in 1926 in Jagatsinghpur in
Orissa, Shri Jagannath Behera started his career in the Pala theatre while he
was still in his teens. Today, at the age of ninety, he is still an active Pala
performer. He was trained in the art by Shri Harekrushna Nath, Bhagaban Singh,
and Harekrushna Swain.
Though he received formal education
only up to middle school, Shri Behera has been a voracious reader of literary classics
in Oriya, Bengali, Hindi,Sanskrit, and English.
He often quotes from these classics during his performances. He has written two books and some amount of
poetry. A General Council member of the Orissa
Sangeet Natak Akademi, he has headed the All Orissa Pala Gayak Parishad. He is also President of the Jogi Mahapurusha
Sanskrit Vidyalaya. For his services to the Pala theatre, Shri Jagannath Behera
was conferred the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2007. He was bestowed the title Gayak Guru by the Governor
of Orissa in 2006. He has also received
the Jagannath Sanskrit University Award besides felicitations from a number of
cultural organizations.
Shri Jagannath Behera has received
the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2009 for his contribution to theatre as a
Pala artist.
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