Rain has long had its own vocabulary in Indian music. Malhar, Megh, Miyan Kimalhar, Desh, Amritavarshini and Varunapriya are among the ragas associated with the season — each offering a different musical interpretation of the skies. For 25 years, Barkha Ritu has built its identity around this meeting of rain and raga. The festival’s Silver Jubilee edition comes to Bengaluru with a concert that moves between carnatic flute, Rajasthani folk music and hindustani vocal traditions. We speak to Nandini Mahesh, co-curator of event, to learn more about it’s offerings.
Barkha Ritu is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year. Looking back over 25 years, what has this journey meant to you and the festival?
It has been a beautiful and meaningful journey. Barkha Ritu is unique because hindustani classical music has different ragas dedicated to different seasons. Monsoon ragas cannot be presented throughout the year, so we thought of creating a festival dedicated to them. Year after year, it has been appreciated so well. We started with just Mumbai in the first year and, the following year, began taking it to Delhi and other cities. It has since travelled to different cities and, this year, we are also taking it to nonmetro cities and towns.
The Silver Jubilee edition is expanding beyond the metros to several cities and towns. Could you tell us more about this wider journey and the decision to take Barkha Ritu to 25 locations?
This year, we are making a conscious effort to take Barkha Ritu beyond the metros and into smaller cities and towns. We want to take it to 25 locations across the country, including places such as Hubli, Belgaum, Jodhpur, Dehradun, Coimbatore and Varanasi, alongside cities such as Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Vadodara. Guwahati is also part of our plans, depending on the situation there. There are currently floods in Assam, so we may have to change that plan or take it there next year. This effort to take the festival beyond metro cities is one of the important differences this year.
The edition is also a fundraiser for Tender Roots Academy of Performing Arts. Could you tell us more about the initiative and why supporting it was important for the festival?
This year, not just the Bengaluru edition but the entire Barkha Ritu festival across all its cities is dedicated as a fundraiser for Tender Roots Academy of Performing Arts, our not-for-profit initiative. The idea is that if school-going children and young adults are exposed to something at a young age, it stays with them. We therefore feel that these amazing performing arts and traditions should be introduced to children. More than a decade and a half ago, we started Tender Roots Academy of Performing Arts and, through it, we take great maestros and rare performing arts traditions to schools.
The opening performance features S Shashank collaborating with Rajasthani folk musicians. What can audiences expect from this unique musical dialogue?
The carnatic classical tradition of Shashank and the Rajasthani folk musicians come from completely different streams, but this is a specially curated capsule that we are presenting. Musically, it is going to be very rich. They are very different streams, but when they flow together, the dialogue will be both musically rich and entertaining, with a beautiful lightness to the music.
How do the performances by Sanjeev Abhyankar and vidushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande complement the festival’s monsoon theme?
Sanjeev Abhyankar and Ashwini Bhide Deshpande are both amazing artistes. They will be presenting Jasrangi, which was created by Pandit Jasraj. When they present it, they will explain the technicalities. Asyou may be aware, the male and female singing scales for vocals are different. Arriving at a common way of presenting them is quite a challenge, but they have worked on it. They will be creating something very powerful and beautiful within a monsoon raga. That is the whole beauty. It is not just the monsoon raga; the lyrics will also add to the sense of the monsoon’s grandeur and enchantment. So it will not just complement the festival but add to the experience.
₹750 onwards. August 15, 6.30 pm. At Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Vyalikaval.