Mahindra Percussion Festival will pay homage to the rich legacy of Ustad Zakir Hussain-OxBig News Network

The third edition of the Mahindra Percussion Festival, in association with The Hindu, will be back in Bengaluru on March 1 and 2 at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts. This year, the festival will be a homage to the enduring legacy of Padma Vibhushan the late Ustad Zakir Hussain, with performances by homegrown talents.

Through his innovative and mesmerising musical endeavours, Ustad Zakir Hussain helped Indian classical music gain global recognition, and the third edition of the festival will celebrate this outlook towards music as a universal entity.

The first day of the festival will feature virtuoso percussionist Trilok Gurtu. Having collaborated with legends such as L. Shankar, John McLaughlin, Ustad Zakir Hussain, and others, Mr. Gurtu will bring a world-class set of different rhythms from around the world to his concert.

Another set of the evening will be Aruna Sairam’s Thrillana Project. Ms. Sairam’s work includes artistes such as Sangeet Haldipur, B.C. Manjunath, Jyotsana Srikanth, Arun Kumar, Giridhar Udupa, and Shalini Mohan.

Son of noted tabla player, the late Pt. Prabhakar Chary, and a disciple of maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, Ravi Chary will showcase his solo project ‘Crossing.’ The album was launched by Ustad Zakir Hussain himself, and features some of the previous performers at the festival, including Ranjit Barot, Taufiq Qureshi, and others.

The second day will showcase the new sound of Indian percussion, with Mr. Barot as the composer, and theatre director Roysten Abel staging their musical production ‘BeatRoute’. This musical ode bridges the past and present, the masculine and feminine, and the everyday with the divine, amalgamating folk rhythms with modern electronic music and Mr. Barot’s drumming.

The final day will also feature SNAX, which will fuse the energy of rock and metal, jazz by Ramkumar Kanakarajan, and mridangam by Sumesh Narayanan.

“The Mahindra Percussion Festival aims to put percussion on centre-stage. It explores the multitude of percussive instruments and styles — some are known but many of which remain relatively unknown. In line with all of our Cultural Outreach programmes, this festival, too, discovers, inspires and celebrates artistes and art forms,” Jay Shah, vice president, cultural outreach, Mahindra Group, said.

“Mahindra Percussion is more than a festival; it’s a journey into the soul of rhythm. Through masterful curation with stalwarts such as Trilok Gurtu, Aruna Sairam, Ranjit Barrot, Ravi Chary, Sumesh Narayan, and Roystel Abel, we bridge tradition and innovation, inviting fans to discover the universal language of beats, where every pulse tells a story and every rhythm sparks a connection,” V.G. Jairam, founder, Hyperlink Brand Solutions, said.

Tickets for the festival are available on BookMyShow.