Sep 20 2025 to Sep 20 2025 6:30 p.m.

Price: 450 Book/Buy

Where

Courtyard Koota

Ground floor, Good Earth Tarana Good Earth Malhar, near Rajarajeswari medical college Kambipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560074

Event Description

Language lies at the heart of our identities: the vehicle by which we express thought and feeling and the medium through which we receive intergenerational wisdom. The vocabulary that informs not only our hopes for the future but also our memories, whether a mother’s lullaby or the names of family favourite recipes. 

Inspired and informed by this understanding, Alva Kuuto, translating to ‘Alva’s collective/group,’ was initiated by Praveen Alva in 2022 to take Tulu music to diverse platforms and stages across regions. At present the group comprises Praveen Alva on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Abhilash Shet on bass guitar and backing vocals, Anshuman Upadhyay on drums and Shashank Kandachar on lead guitar. 

In this performance, the band will involve and engage the audience through stories and memories of the southwestern coastal region, reimagining folk melodies and narratives via contemporary sensibilities and arrangements.

About the performers:

Abhilash Shet

Bass & Backing Vocals

Abhilash Shet has always had an inclination towards music from the age of 6. He is primarily a vocalist who has been trained in Hindustani Classical music under the Kirana & Gwalior Gharanas. He also loves playing the Bass guitar and is the reason for some of the slickest basslines in Alva Kuuto's discography.

"Music for me is my happy place", says Abhilash. "It got me through my difficult times. It is the best thing one can get addicted to. So, Music ON – World OFF.”

Anshuman Upadhyay

Drums

Anshuman Upadhyay has had an interest for rhythm since the ripe ‘old’ age of 3, when he played on every solid surface he could get his hands on with everything that he could turn into drumsticks.

A self-taught drummer, co-founder of an indie-alternative rock band and a session musician based out of Bangalore, Anshuman takes inspiration from progressive rock bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth, & King Crimson with Gavin Harrison as his biggest inspiration.

When not chasing his passion for music, he is deeply involved with football and long-distance bike touring.

His more recent engagements have been with the likes of The Pariah Kite, Vineeth Vincent, as part of the RCB Cheer Squad for IPL 2023, popular folk rock band Swarathma, his own band Vinyl & Scales and of course Alva Kuuto.

Praveen Alva

Lead Vocals & Rhythm Guitar

Born and brought-up in the coastal city of Mangalore, Praveen Alva grew up surrounded and fascinated by the rich culture of the land. Being creatively inclined, he was always involved in the theatre groups during his academic years, writing and performing plays and street plays in Kannada, Hindi and Tulu. Praveen is an Architect and Co-Founded a Design-Build firm ‘IN-Habitat Projects’.

He is a self-taught guitarist and song-writer; he writes songs in his mother-tongue Tulu. His solo project in the language has garnered much appreciation as Rolling Stone (India) has listed his debut EP Neerh in ‘The 10 Best Indian EPs of 2024’ list. He keeps up his efforts in songwriting to popularise Tulu and as a medium for self-expression in his mother-tongue.

He is also the founder of the Tulu eclectic folk band Alva Kuuto which strives to take Tulu to diverse platforms.

Shashank Kandachar

Lead guitar

Shashank Kandachar is a versatile guitarist from Bangalore with over 15 years of experience across a range of musical styles, from metal and rock to funk, blues, and jazz.

His musical journey is marked by a rich diversity of collaborations, currently performing with the eclectic Tulu eclectic folk band Alva Kuuto, grunge act Zed Axis, singer Vasundhara Das, jazz quartet The Final Vinyl, and progressive rock outfit Geometry Box.

Additionally, he is a sought-after session player for numerous other artists.

*Tickets are mandatory for all.