Drums, Beats, Rhythms: The Inaugural Edition of The Mahindra Percussion Festival Kicks Off in Bangalore This Weekend

The first edition of the Mahindra Percussion Festival kicks off in south India on March 18,  2023, with a spectacular range of performers from across India and overseas. The festival curator is Ranjit Barot, a world-renowned percussionist, composer, and producer known for his talent in jazz, fusion, rock and popular Indian music across four decades.

“The vision behind launching the Mahindra Percussion Festival is to create a cultural engagement that appeals to the younger generation and educate them about the vast cultural heritage of India and the world,” explains Jay Shah, Vice President – Cultural Outreach, Mahindra Group, in a chat with World Music Central.

Over the past 15 years, the Mahindra Group has organized the Mahindra Theatre Festival, Mahindra Kabira Festival, Mahindra Blues Festival, and Mahindra Roots Festival.

Founded in 1945, the Mahindra Group is a leading Indian firm in sectors like automotive, farm equipment, information technology and financial services. It also has a strong presence in renewable energy, agriculture, logistics, hospitality and real estate.

“While percussion is often an accompanying instrument, there isn’t any event or festival that puts percussion and the instruments that go along with it on center stage,” Jay observes. The festival showcases the many artists for whom percussion is a way of their livelihood, and the plethora of different instruments played around the world.

“Percussion was chosen as the main theme for the festival as it is a primal art form that doesn’t require any language or background knowledge,” he adds.

Digital media and the internet have democratized the distribution of music around the world. “Anybody can show their talent to the world through the digital channels. Therefore, it is time for Indian musicians to really shine on the global stage, because you don’t need expensive production houses to support and nurture you,” Jay says.

The pandemic was a tough time for the performing arts industry. “But online media fuelled the growth of many indie bands during the pandemic,” he observes. “A lot of bands performed from home and produced a lot of interesting stuff,” he adds.

Indian percussion legends Shivamani and Selva Ganesh, bands like Aattam Kalasamithi, Pulse Conversations will be seen performing alongside international artists Paquito González, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, and others.

Other artists are Chemmeen Band who play alongside Aattam Kalasamithi, a Chenda percussion band from Kerala. The trio of Pulse Conversations features ace drummers Gino Banks, Vinayak Pol and Jai Row Kavi. The Ta Dhom Project by Viveick Rajagopalan blends konnakol, a vocal percussion language, with rap in Tamil and Bhojpuri languages.

The Bangalore festival is the Mahindra Group’s first festival in South India. “In addition to showcasing our festivals in different parts of India, we also plan to host special showcases in other parts of the world, as we have done with the Chicago edition of the Mahindra Blues and the upcoming Lincoln Center edition of the Blues in New York City,” Jay describes.

“Once we establish Mahindra Percussion as a festival, we will consider expanding to host satellite festivals around the world,” he affirms.

Jazz-fusion trio Mohini+Mark+Ark will be performing as well, and playing alongside some of the other artists. The trio consists of bass sensation Mohini Dey, saxophonist-producer Mark Hartsuch, and pianist Arka Chakraborty.

The overseas lineup includes avant-garde instrumentalist Arto Tunçboyacıyan (of Armenian descent, now based in Los Angeles), and Spanish percussionist Paquito González who will perform along with Spanish guitarist José Quevedo “Bolita” and flamenco dancer Antonia Molina “El Choro”.

“The lineup will surely break creative boundaries, making the festival truly an unprecedented platform to traverse various music genres led by resounding percussion beats,” curator Ranjit Barot promises.

Author: Madanmohan Rao

Madanmohan Rao is an author and media consultant from Bangalore, and global correspondent for world music and jazz for World Music Central and Jazzuality. He has written over 15 books on media, management and culture, and is research director for YourStory Media. Madan was formerly World Music Editor at Rave magazine and RJ at WorldSpace, and can be followed on Twitter at @MadanRao.