Pooja Gaitonde brings Sufi music to Bengaluru

Sufi singer Pooja Gaitonde will soon be in Bengaluru to serenade city folk. Her concert, titled

Rangreza

— Soulful Shades of Sufi Kalaam, will be the 26-year-old's maiden performance in the city. “I am very excited about performing in Bengaluru, as I have heard a lot about the city’s Sufi music connoisseurs.” The concert, which is taking place at Chowdiah Memorial Hall this weekend, will touch upon themes of spirituality and their relevance universally. “I will be singing kalaams of

Guru Nanak

, Kabir, Meera Bai and other renowned saints,” she says.

Pooja’s concert will stick to the traditional Sufi set-up. She will be accompanied by artistes Prasad Gaitonde (on

tabla

), Shadab Mohammed (on

dholak

), Shahnawaz Ahmed (on

guitar

), Siddhesh Borkar (on bass) and Prasad Kulkarni (on percussion instruments). Vishal Jagtap, Kayvan Visharia and Aditya Neela will be part of the chorus, while Suhail Akhtar Warsi will narrate the show, and explain the themes and concepts of the concert.

Pooja thinks filmi music merged with Sufi elements is a good way to draw youngsters to the genre. “Mere Rashke Qamar from

Baadshaho

, for instance, has Sufi lyrics and youngsters love that song, especially the rhythm and beats. They might not even know that the song has Sufi influences or understand that qamar is the Urdu word for the moon and not the

Hindi

word, which means waist. The song gets them grooving. So, that’s the way to get youngsters to take interest in Sufi music,” she sums up.