Rendezvous with rhythm: The Mahindra Percussion Festival returns with its fourth edition

India is simply a rhythmically divers nation, wherever each portion nurtures and practises its ain percussive dialect. To unify this philharmonic spirit, the Mahindra Percussion Festival, organised successful relation with The Hindu, returns to Bengaluru with its 4th variation connected March 7 and 8.

Presenting a curated line-up of artistes crossed generations, regions and rhythmic expressions, the two-day festival celebrates legendary musicians and modern ensembles, too putting the spotlight connected percussion.

“Percussion has ever been an integral portion of India’s philharmonic culture. Through this festival, we purpose to bring unneurotic artistes from crossed the state — each with antithetic identity, yet percussively converging arsenic 1 singular tone of India’s evolved philharmonic tradition. It is our effort to scope retired to the adjacent generation,” says Jay Shah, vice president and caput of taste outreach astatine the Mahindra Group.

A item of this variation is ‘Nada Pravaham – Circle of Sound — a collaboration between mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, alongwith formidable instrumentalists Ishaan Ghosh and Shravan Samsi. 

“India is known arsenic the onshore of chants, shlokas and rhythms. The festival brings unneurotic antithetic percussive styles. The opening enactment is simply a curated acceptable with multi-generational Hindustani, Carnatic and Western classical artistes,” says Ishaan.

“The festival not lone promotes our taste legacy, but besides caters to modern audience. This festival is unsocial due to the fact that it is dedicated to percussion and brings unneurotic instrumentalists connected a azygous platform,” feels Sivaraman. According to Shravan, the festival besides makes abstraction for innovations successful bushed on with showcasing celebrated traditions.  

Vocalist Mahesh Kale volition onslaught an antithetic enactment with ‘Yatra,’ which is simply a tribute to Maharashtra’s bhakti culture. Percussionists volition beryllium the mainstay of this show too.  “Rhythm is not conscionable astir sound, but besides being successful harmony with the interior rhythm. This defines ‘Yatra’ and the pulse of our devotional music. I consciousness this festival is 1 of the astir apt platforms for this production,” shares Mahesh.

At a clip erstwhile women person entered the satellite of percussion, the festival volition diagnostic an all-women show titled ‘Women Who Drum’. It is simply a groundbreaking corporate of women artistes including Swarupa Ananth (tabla), Charu Hariharan (mridangam), Nush Lewis (harp), Hamta Baghi (frame drum), and Shalini Mohan (bass).

This ensemble volition item the pistillate voices successful percussion by combining divers instruments, including tabla, mridangam and harp, to make a contemporary, collaborative sound. “It’s astonishing that the festival has decided to diagnostic women percussionists, who seldom get a accidental to execute astatine specified large events. The item of this ensemble is the collaborative  and originative spirit,” Says Charu.

Nush and Swarupa can’t hold more. “The festival is definite to animate galore youngsters to prosecute their philharmonic passion. Apart from bringing to the fore the corporate quality of antithetic ensemble, it volition besides bring to the fore idiosyncratic skill,” says the duo.

‘The Parai Awakens - Unreserved Live’ by Praveen Sparsh is an ensemble of parai artistes — including Nanbargal Gramiya Kalai Kuzhu, Mylai M Karthikeyan, Dholak Kaccha and Laxman Arvind — highlights the festival’s committedness to amplify each dependable wrong the philharmonic landscape. The enactment brings 1 of Tamil Nadu’s oldest people instruments into the mainstream done reinvention and reclamation. 

According to Praveen, “I spot euphony arsenic existing successful 2 wide forms — 1 led by lyrics that usher the listener done emotion and narrative, and the instrumental, wherever the listener’s imaginativeness shapes the experience. Percussion takes this abstraction a measurement further. It invites some the artiste and the assemblage into a much open, immersive abstraction of listening. In that sense, a festival dedicated exclusively to percussion becomes a uncommon blessing — for the artistes to explicit themselves freely, and for audiences to prosecute with bushed successful its astir expansive form.” 

The festival volition reason with Grammy-nominated tabla artiste Bickram Ghosh’s ‘Drums of the East’. It integrates divers instruments and bridges Hindustani classical and modern music. Bickram conceived this presumption to observe the heavy and spiritually charged rhythmic traditions and sounds of Bengal. The amusement layers tabla, physics percussion and assemblage drums. The ensemble besides includes Gopal Barman connected sreekhol; Ranjan De connected the dhol; Gokul Dhaaki and team; and Abhisek Mallick connected the electrical sitar. 

“Man discovered the bushed earlier the note. At 1 point, connection happened done beats erstwhile connection had not yet evolved. The value of bushed successful quality beingness is incalculable. If 1 simply looks astatine the quality betwixt beingness and death, it is each astir the heartbeat. Everything successful this beingness is acceptable to rhythm, and being successful bushed is cyclic successful nature, specified arsenic a 24-hour day, 365-day twelvemonth and the Earth revolving astir the sun. Percussion is healing and joy-giving, due to the fact that a percussion instrumentality says a batch astir a civilization and wherever it hails from. This festival brings unneurotic a kaleidoscope of bushed and energies into its ambit. It gives the assemblage an accidental to see, larn and imbibe India’s rhythmic gamut, which is expanding each day,” believes Bickram Ghosh.

The Mahindra Percussion Festival, organised successful relation with The Hindu, volition instrumentality spot connected March 7 and 8, astatine the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Bengaluru. Tickets connected BookMyShow