The fifth edition of Omkar Music Festival by Bengaluru's Omkar Music Academy is special for more reasons than one. Besides a stellar line-up of over 15 musicians, the annual classical music festival brings on board musicians from Bengaluru’s blind association, Samarthanam Trust for a performance.
“Last two years, the festival had to be held online because of the lockdown. Even though it’s a classical music festival, we do something new and innovative every year. This time, the band Sunadha from Samarthanam Trust, which comprises eight visually impaired artists, will be performing. Having performed in over 3000 concerts across the world, for the first time they are going to be performing all classical compositions,” says vocalist and performer Iman Das, the organizer of the festival.
The three-day festival starting this Friday will feature classical vocalist Pt.Jayteerth Mevundi, Vidushi Rimpa Siva (tabla, Kolkata), Lalitha and Nandini Muthuswami (Carnatic violin, Chennai), Vidushi Saniya Patankar (vocalist, Pune), Syed Adnan Salem (Hyderabad), Vidushi Snigdha DS with Padmashri Gopal Dubey (Jugalbandi- Bharatnatyam and Chouu), Dipankar Ray (flute, Kolkata), Bipul Ray (santoor, Delhi), Aishwarya Desai (vocal, Dharwad), Pt Muddu Mohan (vocal), among others. The festival will also stage performances by Omkar music academy disciples.
Yet another highlight is that for the first time MD Pallavi and Iman Das will come together for a jugalbandi called Anandgeethe– a mix of bhavageethe, Hindustani ragas, Kannada film songs besides thumries, bandishes, and original compositions of Iman Das. “The jugalbandi is going to be something unique. We have called it Anandgeethe because it’s an extension of bhavageethe. We are also combining various genres of classical music. It’s the first time in the city something like this is being performed,” shares Iman, adding that the Ghazal by Syed Adnan Salem and the Bharatanatyam performance are other key highlights.
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