The Indian Music Experience Museum is all set to host Freedom Festival, which will celebrate the country’s 75th year of Independence through music. The festival will feature legendary Indian artists from the carnatic, hindustani, and folk genres. Highlights include performances by Padma Vibhushan Umalayapuram Sivaraman, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan Sudha Ragunathan and the renowned Gundecha Brothers apart from Folk musicians, and more.
When asked about the theme for the festival, Manasi Prasad, who is a musician as well as part of the organising committee says, “The central theme is about the 75 years of Independence of our country. We wanted to bring the great music traditions of India under one roof, as a tribute to India.”
Manasi explains that the festival has been curated to include a balance of perfor-mances by renowned and up-and-coming artistes. So in addition to names like Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Sudha Raghunathan, one can also expect performances from talents like carnatic singer Spoorthi Rao, the winner of a music reality show. “I feel this event is unique for us because it is the first time we are bringing so many genres together. I feel this is what sets this festival apart from other music festivals,” shares Manasi.
The legendary Sudha Raghunathan, whose performances have taken her from the halls of Chennai to Broadway, New York says, “The concert will have more than one patriotic rendition. We will have two compositions — one by Subramania Bharati and another which is a ragam thanam pallavi that indicates aspects of freedom.”
Celebrating peace, love, humanity, and universal brotherhood is the essence of baul, which will also be performed by skilled folk artistes from Bengal. Girish Khyapa, one of the baul performers, explains that he put his performance together by using the theme of harmony as inspiration. “Freedom is all about celebrating harmony among diverse socio-economic and cultural practices by rejecting the division of caste, creed and religion,” he explains.
₹199 upwards. August 26-28. At MLR Convention Centre, JP Nagar