EKATVAM IS AN initiative by the Entrust Foundation that believes that there is no bigger religion than human service and social work. The past editions of this music festival have featured many emerging talents like hindustani classical vocalist Siddhartha Belmannu, carnatic vocalist Kalyanapuram S Aravind, and violinist HM Smitha, among others. The upcoming edition will also feature many budding artistes and all the performances will be in the duo or quartet format. Rajmohan Krishnan, the founder of Ekatvam, lets us in on the festival.
“Ekatvam is a not-for-profit entity that started in 2015. We have been involved in curating music and giving a platform to youngsters to perform. We aim at bringing all forms of music and not concentrating on one form. We have hindustani, carnatic, sufi, folk, fusion and more,” Rajmohan begins.
Shedding more light on how they curate the list of performers for the festival, Rajmohan says, “We keep on hosting various music festivals. So, we always remain in that circle. Many musicians contact us and send us their audios. We listen to them and talk to their teachers to know more about these musicians. That way, we always try to make sure that new faces get an opportunity to perform in front of a wider audience.”
The three-day festival will have two performances every day, which include Samanvaya (hindustani vocal by Dyuthi and Snigdha), Anandamaya (carnatic vocal medley by Vishruthi Girish & Anirudh Subramanian and Smruthi Bhaskar & Abhirama Bode), Dvayam (carnatic/ghazal performance by Chilkunda Sisters — Lakshmi Nagaraj and Indu Nagaraj) and Stringhaara (carnatic instrumental performance by Akkarai Sisters — Subhalakshmi and Sornalatha). Talking about how the festival is different from the past editions, the founder says, “Last time, it was all about solo performances or jugalbandis, but this time, all the performances are going to be duets or quartets. This helps us incorporate more musicians into the festival.”
When asked about the trends he is currently witnessing in music, he says, “Music has evolved a lot. People are not afraid to try out new things. I have seen people giving equal or more importance to percussionists too. Earlier the singer used to sit in the centre of the stage and the percussionists were at the side. Now, that has started changing.” Telling us more about his future projects, Rajmohan says, “We are planning to organise a Guru Poornima festival in Chennai. In that festival, we will be inviting a guru and a shishya (teacher and student), where we would be honouring the guru and both the teacher and the student will perform together. Then, we will be conducting the yearly TN Krishnan Music Festival, along with other quarterly concerts.”
Entry free. March 10-12, 4 pm. At The Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Basavanagudi.
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