Aadi Anant Festival returns with cross-cultural collaborations and tributes

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), has announced the 15th edition of its annual Indian music festival, the Aadi Anant festival. The festival remains a vital event on the cultural calendar, honouring the spirit of the guru-shishya parampara while simultaneously embracing creative rejuvenation and innovation.

Experience a cross-cultural and generational line-up

The 2025–26 festival features a celebrated line-up across four concerts: three hosted in Mumbai and one culminating in Chennai. The series begins in Mumbai with a first-time collaboration between two globally acclaimed maestros: percussionist Trilok Gurtu and vocalist Sid Sriram. Their performance, titled A Musical Melange, promises a cross-cultural journey that seamlessly blends Indian classical elements with global genres like jazz, rock, and R&B.

The second evening offers a rare glimpse into the enduring guru-shishya tradition with All in the Family: A Percussion Ensemble. This showcase features V Selvaganesh and his illustrious musical family, embodying three generations of inherited legacy. The ensemble of South and North Indian percussion instruments will pay a heartfelt tribute to the tabla maestro, Zakir Hussain, just two days before his first death anniversary.

The Mumbai series concludes in January with Pankh: A Leap of Faith, a production created and presented by vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty and composer Shantanu Moitra. This performance promises an expansive sonic journey, spanning forms such as thumri, devotional pieces, folk influences, and contemporary songwriting, supported by a dynamic young ensemble.

The festival will culminate in Chennai with a masterful Hindustani vocal recital by Dr Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, one of the finest exponents of the Jaipur–Atrauli gharana. Her concert will showcase the breadth of Hindustani forms, including khayal, thumri, and bhajan, supported by her senior disciples. This performance specifically highlights the unbroken lineage of India’s oral-aural musical tradition, a central focus of the Aadi Anant festival since its inception in 2012.

The festival’s importance was underscored by Khushroo N Suntook, Chairman of the NCPA, who stated that in celebrating the guru-shishya parampara and "boundaries and beyond," the festival honours the essence of Indian musical tradition. Dr Suvarnalata Rao, Head of Programming for Indian Music at NCPA, further remarked that the festival seeks to celebrate the "vitality which redefines and rejuvenates artistic traditions" through works embedded in tradition yet venturing into contemporary soundscapes.

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