Oct 21 2022 to Oct 22 2022 7 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Price: Rs 500 onwards Book/Buy

Where

Chowdiah Memorial Hall

16th Cross Rd, Vyalikaval, Kodandarampura, Malleshwaram 560003

Event Description

Bhoomija presents Roysten Abel's ‘Weaving Voices’, an immersive aural and visual treat that seamlessly blends music, theatre, and design. The production features some of the biggest names on the music and allied arts scenes, such as Bombay Jayashri, Uday Bhawalkar, MD Pallavi, Deu Khan Manganiyar, Rasika Shekar, Apoorva Krishna, Sumesh Narayanan, and MT Aditya Srinivasan. The sound design is by Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty. The design is by Amardeep Behl and the costumes are by Sarah Eapen. Popular Kannada theatre and film director K M Chaitanya has handled the background visuals. The world premiere of ‘Weaving Voices’ will take place on Fri, 21 Oct 2022 at 7 PM in Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore. There will be repeat shows on Sat, 22 Oct 2022, at 11 AM and 7 PM. Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com.

Bhoomija's Managing Trustee, Gayathri Krishna says, "This is a dream production! Roysten Abel is a master storyteller and he has woven a show that is a grand treat of music, design, theatre, and above all, storytelling. It is incredible that such a galaxy of stars, senior and young, agreed to come together. The talent, dedication and approach I have seen over several weeks of rehearsals has been unbelievable".

About the Artistes of ‘Weaving Voices’

Roysten Abel Noted playwright and theatre director Roysten Abel is known for his range of critically and commercially acclaimed works, such as ‘Flowers’, ‘Othello in Black and White’, ‘A Hundred Snake Charmers’, and ‘The Manganiyar Seduction’. A graduate of the School of Drama, Thrissur, and the National School of Drama, Roysten has also apprenticed with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His first original play, ‘Othello’, earned Roysten national and international recognition, winning him the Scotsman Fringe First Award and extensive touring around the world. ‘Othello’ was followed by several other equally acclaimed original works produced in India and Europe, such as a play on renowned Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini and the ‘Spirit of Anne Frank’, which starred some of the biggest names in Indian theatre. Roysten’s creative style has enabled him to work with a wide cross-section of performers, such as puppeteers, musicians, magicians, acrobats, and jugglers. Roysten’s more recent works include the unique “Kitchen”, devised with two actors/cooks and 12 Mizhav drummers, and the stunning “Manganiyar Classroom”, which saw him work with the children of the Manganiyars.

Bombay Jayashri

“Bombay” Jayashri Ramnath is a globally renowned Indian vocalist, musician, composer, and social activist.Hailing from a family of musicians, Jayashri’s vocal skills in Hindustani and Carnatic music were honed under the exacting tutelage of senior gurus Lalgudi Jayaraman, T R Balamani, K Mahavir Jaipurwale, and Ajay Pohankar. She is also an accomplished Veena player, trained under G N Dhandapani Iyer. Jayashri is perhaps one of the few Indian musicians to have touched these many art forms and has performed in a range of distinguished venues across the world. She holds the distinction of being the first Carnatic musician to perform at the Sydney Opera House and is only the second Indian, after M S Subbalakshmi, to perform at Carnegie Hall. In addition to being a classical singer and singing for films, Jayashri has also donned the hat of composer for several dance dramas, movies, and albums, as well as philanthropist and teacher. For her path-breaking work spanning genres, disciplines, and geographies, Jayashri isthe recipient of numerous awards and honours from the Indian Government, in addition to being nominated for an Academy Award for her work in Ang Lee’s ‘Life of Pi’.

Resul Pookutty Indian film sound designer, audio mixer, and sound editor

Resul Pookutty needs no introduction, as one of the few Indians to win an Academy Award, along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp, for the highly acclaimed ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. A graduate of the prestigious FTII Pune, Pookutty’s debut in sound design was in ‘Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One’ (1997), directed by Rajat Kapoor. His break came with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Black’, which opened up avenues for major productions like ‘Musafir’, ‘Zinda’, ‘Gandhi, My Father’, ‘Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja’, ‘Enthiran’, and a slew of other national and international films. In addition to the Academy Award, Pookutty has received several prestigious awards for his work, such as a BAFTA and the Padma Shri award from the Government of India. KM Chaitanya Film director, documentary maker, and theatre person, K M Chaitanya is among the Kannada film and theatre industry’s most prominent personalities. Earning several awards for his very first feature film, ‘Aa Dinagalu’, including the Filmfare Awards South for Best Director and Best Feature Film, Chaitanya has also received awards from SIIMA and the Chennai Film Fans Association for his work. ‘Aa Dinagalu’ also made it to the list of The Week’s top 10 Indian films of 2007. Chaitanya has also adapted, directed, and produced several award-winning television series, plays, and documentaries, including works commissioned by the BBC World Service Television, the Ministry of Culture (Government of India), and the National School of Drama (India). His plays, many of which have seen him work closely with his mentor Girish Karnad, have featured personalities such as Padmashri-award-winning theatre personality Arundhati Nag.

Uday Bhawalkar Acclaimed exponent of the dhrupad genre 

Uday Bhawalkar is a popular Indian classical vocalist. His training in classical music started at a very young age, under the tutelage of his elder sister. At 15, he received the Dhrupad Kendra (Bhopal) scholarship, going on to receive training from the legendary Zia Fariduddin Dagar and Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Ever since, Uday Bhawalkar has performed on many national and international stages, in addition to conducting several lec-dem sessions and workshops to spread knowledge and appreciation of the dhrupad genre. He is also a familiar name in the national TV and radio scene in India, as well as in the Indian film industry, having worked in Aparna Sen’s ‘Mr and Mrs Iyer’, Mani Kaul’s ‘Cloud Door’, Renuka Shane’s ‘Rita’, and Gajendra Ahire’s ‘Ma Baap’.

M D Pallavi Singer, composer, actor, editor, filmmaker, and sound designer

M D Pallavi is trained in both Hindustani and Sugama Sangeetha vocal music, under Pt. Ram Rao Naik and Raj Bhau Sontakke and Mysore Ananthaswamy and Raju Ananthaswamy, respectively. In her long and illustrious career, Pallavi has shared the stage with acclaimed musicians like the late Mysore Ananthaswamy, S.P.Balasubramaniam, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Abhishek Raghuram, K.J. Jesudas, Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma, Bombay Jayashree, Raju Ananthaswamy and Rajesh Vaidya. She has also given several well-received solo and duet recitals. Pallavi has also acted in a number of plays, TV series, and movies, some of which she also scored the music for. For her work across industries, Pallavi is the recipient of several prestigious awards such as the Karnataka Government State Award for the Best Playback Singer for ‘Duniya’, the Aryabhatta Best Actress Award for ‘Garva’, and the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award for ‘C Sharp C Blunt’ (a play she co-devised with German theatre director Sophia Stepf).

Aditya Srinivasan An up-and-coming table player and percussionist 

M T Aditya Srinivasan is no stranger to the stage, having accompanied several renowned Indian classical musicians in concerts, such as Bombay Jayashri, M Balamuralikrishna, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia, Anuradha Sriram, Sriram Parasuram, Unnikrishnan, Ranjani-Gayatri, and Anil Srinivasan. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music and a Fellow of The Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship, Berklee College of Music, Aditya performed as a multi-percussionist with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, sharing the stage with the Berklee Indian Ensemble, Danilo Perez, Antonio Sanchez and other members of Paco de Lucia’s band, Bruno Raberg, and Allan Chase. A recipient of the prestigious IRAA award in both 2019 and 2020, the latest in Aditya’s list of achievements is working with famed composers Anirudh Ravichander, Vidyasagar, and Sean Roldan on various successful projects.

Apoorva Krishna Violinist and composer

Apoorva Krishna has over 15 years of training in the Indian Carnatic style of violin playing – a fact evident in her many sublime original compositions and stunning performances. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Apoorva was the first Indian selected by Tarisio (London), from over 200 contenders, to receive the Young Artist Grant in 2017. Her original composition, “Merging Parallels”, received the Honourable Mention at the 2022 BMI Student Composer Awards, adding to her substantial list of awards and scholarships. Apoorva has accompanied legendary artistes such as Ustaad Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Aruna Sairam, William Cepeda, Bombay Jayashri, and John McLaughlin in over 500 national and international concerts spanning venues such as the Melbourne Recital Center, Harvard Business School, All India Radio, NCPA Mumbai, Madras Music Academy, and the Madrid Sony auditorium. She is the founder of the international fusion band “Sanyog” and regularly conducts outreach programs via “Rhapsody Hour” to spread the love and knowledge of Indian music.

Rasika Shekar Indo-American flautist and singer

Rasika Shekar started her career in 2011, and there’s been no looking back since! In a career spanning a decade, Rasika has toured with ghazal legend Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan as a vocalist, sung for and performed live with popular Bollywood composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and sung in several acclaimed Bollywood movies. As a flautist, which she has been since the age of 14, Rasika has given several solo Carnatic flute concerts and performed in MTV’s acclaimed show Coke Studio. Her concerts have been staged in countries such as Spain, Mauritius, the United States, India, and Singapore.

Sumesh Narayan One of the most gifted and sought-after Carnatic percussionists of the current generation 

Sumesh Narayanan has trained with Mridangam Maestro Dr. Thiruvaarur Bakthavathsalam for two decades and continues to learn from him. Sumesh is a rare combination of a musician who aspires to master the rich traditions of the mridangam oeuvre in the Carnatic style while retaining an open and larger world view which allows him to be part of many innovative and cross-disciplinary ventures to which he is a vital contributor and much admired for his ideas and energetic playing.

About the Bhoomija Trust

The Bhoomija Trust is known for curating and presenting quality art programmes and performances to audiences nationally and internationally. Since 2012, the Trust has brought to stage prominent artistes and art forms that are not otherwise easily accessible, with a focus on folk traditions. The Trust has earlier presented events such as Bombay Jayashri’s performance at the Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Center for Performing Arts (San Jose), concerts by Aruna Sairam, and the ‘Jackfruit’ festival of music for and by children, which also saw the world premiere of Roysten Abel’s ‘The Manganiyar Classroom’, to name a few.

Venue: Chowdiah Memorial Hall, 16th cross, GD Park Extension, 2nd Main Road, Malleshwaram – Bangalore 560003

Contact: 080 23445810/23443956

Dates: Friday 21 Oct 22 – 7 PM Saturday 22 Oct 22 – 11 AM and 7 PM

Tickets are available on www.bookmyshow.com