Kailasaa Music Festival-3: The Purest Divine Musical Ecstasy

A few beings on this planet realize that ‘Music is the most potent drug ever known’. Far from being just a means of live entertainment, the Kailasa Music Festival at Kevala Foundation has emerged as a magnetic reminder that pure divine music will usher us to the godliness within.

The big stage for world-class live performances: A summary
In its 3^rd edition, the Kailasaa Music Festival lived up to its promise we made to upscale the overall experience. The dream of getting choicest world-class musicians and singers performing live in the vibrant outdoor stage set in a pure nature ambience aided by high-resolution sound, classy ambient lighting, high definition audiovisual recordings of the musical ecstasy came true in a spectacular and memorable way.

The extent of success can easily be summed up by the testimonies of seasoned professionals who graced the event. An International music event director admired our efforts, considering our limited resources and budget and yet we hosted an appreciable event of this scale in a remote destination. The energies were so profound that artists that have performed all over the world admitted that they found the setting at Kailasaa Festival so welcoming and intense, that they are eager to perform again. More importantly, they envisage some of the biggest names in the world music domain to perform at the next edition of the festival. Our local legislator was so thrilled and engrossed that he attended all the 3 days of the festival despite his super busy schedule.

The melodious voices, calibrated music and pulsating percussions permeated the tranquil space and traversed through remotest villages in the sacred valley of ‘Chandra Drona’ hills drawing in curious crowds that have never seen or heard these musical geniuses. The festival turned out to be a rare gift to the music lovers of Chikmagalur, a paradise where Kevala Foundation stands as a Nada Yoga centre and heritage site for pure world music. One of my dear friends who was depressed on the passing of her beloved dog wrote to me that being at Kevala Foundation during the festival transformed her into a blissful state. The intense music, sanctified space and the ‘Himalayan Kriya Yoga’ sessions healed her.

A week before the event, I was flooded with messages from musicians and singers that wanted to find a slot and perform at the festival. It was hard to decline one of them.  Khanak Joshi, the 12-year old Sufi singer and her team found a deserved slot on the first day of the event. Those who have organized a music event in a remote nature destination will relate with our efforts. When 50 artists perform back to back in 3 days, the event organizer needs to be super aware of every single detail to ensure a streamlined flow. The fact that everything looked so welcoming on-site at the Kailasaa Music Festival is possible only owing to tireless work and coordinating skills of our core team on site, dear friends and volunteers.

The sheer intensity of preparing the site, weeding five acres of land, sorting the approach road, sprucing the nearby kundalini cosmic gardens, planting new flowering saplings, setting up ambient lighting  and a customized stage, meeting the tech-rider specifications of artists, choice of food menu, tie-ups with logistics transport companies, hotels, spreading awareness of the event, designing of promotional material and reaching out to enthusiasts across the board, it was a huge task accomplished effectively with just a few people on task. Everything looks routine for a hardcore event director in a big town event in an established venue. However when getting a pin across to site is a 34 kilometres ride from nearest shopping destination, one has to plan for every eventuality.

Pure downloads of Energy at Kevala
The energy at Kevala is of a consecrated space that is empowered by downloads of Galactical Cosmic Rays (GCR) which is mostly received in untouched rain forests. This makes a huge impact on all those who are receptive to the gentle trickle of photonic energies. Every artist at the festival talked about the purity of energies that they felt and how they braced up to offer their higher extent of musical expression. Most of these artists came to Kailasa festival in a rush and had to juggle between various outstation shows, and thankfully they were able to quickly absorb the energies and deliver a power packed performance.

The auspicious beginnings
The stage was set for a grand musical extravaganza. Music takes us closest to the divinity within. For a true artist, gratitude serves as the doorway to musical expression of devotion and bliss. The melodious voice of Sinchana Bhat offered the prayers to the Lord with soulful Ganesh Vandana. Sinchana is an adept Hindustani Classical Singer who graciously volunteered to anchor the festival along with Suma who took over the narrative in the Kannada language.

The ecstatic performances at Kailasaa

The exotic Santoor rendition by Shri Deepak Ullal
Santoor is a 93 stringed instrument that is one of the most difficult to tune and express its nuances. It offers no meendkari like in sitar, and hence to express gayaki ang (melodious tunes of singing), it takes supreme control over the striking of the mallets on the strings.  Shri Deepak Ullal lends his deep awareness of rhythm and melody to express it with his spellbinding raga based renditions. If one closes their eyes, he would transport the listener to the exotic valleys of Kashmir with its meandering streams cascading down the snow-capped peaks. The opening performance of Shri Deepak on Santoor and ably accompanied by Shri Shouri Shanbhag on the Tabla created magical waves and befittingly opened the music event to eager audiences.

Sufiana Kalam by Khanak Joshi
The stage was set for the prodigy Khanak Joshi to weave her magic. I had already enjoyed listening to her practice in our music room at kevala. It is a treat to watch her perform with confidence as she rendered Sufiana poetry with her penetrative voice and poise. Gaurav Sharma on Tabla, and Sanjit Mukherjee on the Dholak gave her the rhythmic accompaniment. Khanak has the right attitude and intense dedication to progression, she has the potential to scale heights in her singing journey. Meeting parents of this 12-year-old prodigy were truly heart warming.

Devotional singing by Sooryagayathri
Sooryagayathri has made international waves with her extraordinary tonal purity and soulful singing. She is a true ‘tapasvini’ and a darling of online rasikas. With over 50 million viewers tuned into her voice, she seems to fill the void left by the great M S Subbalakshmi.  She landed in Kevala tired and feverish with a massive cold. All the rough road journeys were overbearing on her. I felt a huge wave of compassion for her, and she graciously accepted healing transmissions in the meditation space at Kevala. After a brief period of rest, she emerged on stage and admitted that she will not be able to give her best. It became apparent that Soorya was trying hard to give her best while fighting against the flu. The small strains in her high notes were indicative. As the concert ended, I rushed on stage to congratulate her. As I held her face, she teared up. These were genuine tears of a true artist who was disappointed that she could not render her best performance. My heart melted and reached out to her. I could clearly see the depth of her mission. In those moments, I also felt a deep sense of contentment that the heritage of Indian devotional music is supremely alive, as the flag bearers like soorya will keep it flying high.  I had the honour of meeting her parents who have sacrificed a lot to support their daughter’s phenomenal singing journey.

Layatharanga, the ecstatic performers

Having watched scores of youtube videos and listened to albums of these maestros, the excitement to see them live kept growing. Thanks to persistent efforts of our event director Suryaprakash, we managed to get them together to perform, as each of them always travels in multiple destinations performing different concerts. The distinct sound of Layatharanga is baffling. The extraordinary timing, melodies, rhythms, cues allow them to blend in individual brilliance and collective volcanic eruptions.  I had to admit that this concert was one of the best I had seen live. Amit Nadig mesmerized the audience with his genius on the flute. He was elegantly positioned in the centre stage surrounded by an eclectic mix of percussionists. Arun Kumar unleashed a flurry of foot-tapping rhythms while Vidwan Giridhar Udupa weaved his magic on the Ghatam and orchestrated the band with minimalistic eye movements and hand gestures. Pramath Kiran, the founding member of Layatharanga played mind-boggling Afro-Cuban rhythms on the Djembe, Cajun while revealing his mastery on the Morching (jaws harp). Vidwan Jayachandra Rao, demonstrated his rhythmic mastery on the Mridangam. The rapid-fire round of Konnakol by each of the artists truly distinguished their unique styles and practices. Fusion presentations can easily reel off the track when there is lack of grasp on getting the act together. Most of the modern day fusion bands sound like a cacophony of random sounds. Layatharanga is impressive in its detailing and overall impact. Melody is the binding fabric and soothing interception amidst the intensity of the percussions. Such was the impact of their performance that every track received an overwhelming standing ovation, which fuelled them to heighten their expression.  Layatharanga lived up to its true glory and rocked the Kailasaa festival. Giridhar Udupa stated during the post-concert that each of the band members celebrated the sanctified space at kevala and were talking about it days later and all are eager to be back with a bang.

Sama Veda Ghosti by Vinayak Hegde
Sama Veda is one of the greatest cosmic downloads of purest transmissions for awareness on planet earth. It is the source of musical expression and includes verses from Rig Veda chanted to a unique Vedic meter. Sama Veda is regarded as the roots to classical Indian music and dance traditions that the notations sound like a musical score sheet. Saman means song, and the chants are sung with an enchanting notation. Shri Vinayak Hegde is a rare find and an adept, thanks to our flutist Shri Vinayak Honnavar ji who introduced him to the Kailasaa Festival. When the chants commenced at three in the afternoon, the very first verse permeated my brain center like a lazer beam. In the following moments, all present in the audience were truly magnetized. No one could move an inch. I could not even open my eyes, but felt his sonorous voice radiating waves of bliss. In intense 21 minutes of chanting, he had radiated a huge wave of energy. When he did finish the session, I looked around to see spellbound listeners in surrender to the profundity that encompassed them.  The only way we can honour this precious vedic heritage is by practising it. We have already set forth on the path to introduce Sama Veda classes at Kevala Foundation.

Aparamparagata: The journey into unconventional sounds of handpan
Muki Sablania deft fingers run on the handpan delicately and produce heavenly sounds of rare melodies. Just when you feel like you can drift into meditative stillness, he whips up a crazy rhythm that gets you excitedly clapping on the edge of your seat. Handpan is a beautiful sounding instrument, one can’t go off key with it. Every tap is a pleasant sound. However to strike a grand conversation, one needs deep sensitivity of every hand strike and deep rhythmic sense. Muki’s rendition is like a white swan graciously drifting through Mansarovar lake.  He has had a memorable and progressive journey with the Kailasaa Guni Kalakaar Band, our bunch of talented amateur musicians from Kailasaa Festival and the jamming sessions are always intense and creative.  Muki is a multi-instrumentalist and gifted enough to make his own musical instruments. His musical sense, simplicity, genuine humility makes him magnetic, on and off stage.

Hindustani Classical by Poorvi Garud
Poorvi Garud is a gifted classical singer with an impressive vocal range and tonal purity. She hails from a family of three generations of revered musicians. She carries the fragrance of that legacy while demonstrating her unique style. Her voice is honest, pure and expresses flair for subtle melodic and microtonal expressions. She is an integral part of Kailasa Festival now and we see her as a shining beacon of Hindustani classical music if she persists with the tapasya that is required. Under the watchful accompaniment on tabla with her father Shri Gurucharan Garud, she graciously rendered the ragas that truly wowed the discerning audience.

Owing to a late start of the afternoon events, we could honour only a truncated concert time. We all truly deserved to listen to her, So I urged Poorvi to come on stage later in the evening as the celebrations heightened with her doting father Shri Gurucharan Garud and the kailasaa band having ignited a huge wave. She graciously accepted and soulfully sang two tracks, one in English and Spanish that found instant appeal with the audience.

Carnatic Recital & Devotional Music-Dr Suchetan Rangaswamy & Team
Dr Suchetan Rangaswamy and his protégé Supreeth Phalguna who are making waves on the popular ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Kannada’ Talent hunt show as mentors, brought the crowd alive with their passionate devotional singing. Those who relate with bhakti movement in Karnataka state were in for a treat as the duo belted cult classics ardently and found an instant connect with audiences. With Carnatic classical raga-based bhajans, they traversed across the spectrum and graciously accepted song requests from some discerning listeners in the audience. The limelight of the concert was the brilliant live painting done by a talented artist on stage gifted with quicksilver strokes who brought to life, his unique depictions of Masters -Ganesha, Krishna, Hunaman and Ma Shakti.  Dr. Suchetan was nursing a back injury which was sorted at Kevala and he came back on stage with renewed vigour and passion and delivered a memorable performance.

Hindustani Vocal by Sadhashiv Bhat & Sinchana Bhat
Sinchana Bhat engaged in dual role-play as the anchor and performer at the Kailasa festival which gave her the opportunity to watch all the live concerts. The stage of kailasa somehow was inspiring every artist to offer their best. This was clearly evident when she settled down into a meditative state to perform with her husband ‘Sadashiv Bhat’. Their melodious voices caressed us like an ozone-rich mountain breeze. There is nothing more soothing than a Hindustani classical raga when rendered with a deep emphasis on melody, and nuances of microtones. Their voices compliment each other as Sinchana soars melodiously on the highs with ease, Sadashiv is that enriched base note that is endearing and heartwarming.

Rhythm Magic –Kailasaa Guni Kalakaar
Kailasa Festival has matured and so have the loyal and dedicated artists that have been with us since our first edition in 2016. We lovingly call these talented bunch of artists the Kailasa Guni Kalakaar. There is no better thrill for an experimental musician than discover the magic of jamming. The fragrance and essence of each artist, their unique styles and collaborative efforts are on display. The ecstatic moments are about the magic of timing, and when it happens in a flash without any hint of elaborate planning. Music delves in its deep calculation done to derive that magical timing. In the company of mature artists, it unfurls with effortless ease. The fusing of styles happen when musicians combine deep intent, skill, inherent talent along with intensive attention to the scales, rhythms and nuances which can make all the difference between fusion and confusion. More importantly, it also opens the gateways for a better connection for artistic creativity and expression.
When these talented bunch arrived on stage, it was already 10 in the night. Some of the crowd had already returned home. However, there was an eager bunch that had anticipated the magic to unleash and hence were waiting patiently. Deepak Ullal set the mood of nature romance and colour, with stunningly beautiful melodies struck on the Santoor with such rare artistry. Gurucharan Garud on the tabla demonstrated his mastery with deft accompaniment and a rare flurry of explosive rhythms. In a few minutes, these artists shifted gears as Shri Sarvottam Kamath came alive on the Djembe, Congos, Cajun, and his percussion raised the excitement and tempo admirably.

Vinayak Honnavar on the flute who was pitching in softly with melodious punctuations on the Bansuri, is a live wire on and off stage. He bared his collection of flutes which he had gathered at the World Flute Festival in Argentina, and unleashed the Andean mountain melodies with the South American flute. The rare blend of santoor, tabla, djembe, flute created a frenzy mainly owing to the talent of these artists.
The essence of Kailasa Music Festival is hard to describe unless one has been a live witness to the sheer magic that was on display. Just when everyone thought the concert would be predictable, Kaushik a Didgeridoo player was spotted in the audience. I invited him on stage just trusting my gut feeling that everything would fall into place and reassuringly the jamming took a new twist as Muki Sablania joined in with his Handpan. As surprises kept springing up, it just raised the bar to new astonishing heights. Aadarsh on the keyboards seemed to be another plane, as he intercepted with funky chords and bass drones that added a splash of colour to the expressions of santoor. The tempo heighted with Sarvottam on the congos, and the crowd who were on the edge of their seats, rushed in front on the stage, and danced their away till midnight.

Carnatic Recital- Shri Vibhu, Pawan Kumar, Aniruddha
As Sinchana introduced ShriVibhu and his accompanying musicians to the audience, she made a deep observation of the musical journey of these talented artists before they commenced their performances.  All these are recipients of Awards of contests conducted by All India Radio at the National level, which she reinstated as one of the toughest selection formats in India.  The talented trio seemed under no pressure and it became evident as Shri Vibhu took on the microphone and unfurled his magical voice that magnetized us with its rich timbre, reach and impact. Aniruddha (violin) and Pawan Kumar (mridangam) blended in graciously. Their deep dedication amalgamated with their artistry. It is a rare treat when purists come together as they built an aura of divine intricacy that was enchanting. When they concluded, there was a gleam of deep contentment on their faces. I felt a wave of compassion as I hugged them and I am sure these youngsters will go a long way on their musical path.

A Popular offering- Srinivas Udupa & Archana Udupa
Archana is an award-winning playback singer with a musical journey of over 20 years in the kannada film industry.  With her family present in the audience, and her father Shri Srinivas Udupa joined her to sing on stage, they both rendered devotional melodies that struck a deep chord with the local audiences of chikmagalur. Archana is a mature singer, with a distinctive voice. She is a definitive crowd puller who understands their pulse given her vast experience of performing. The daughter-father duo won their hearts and brought around cheer to the festivity of the event.

Mukha Veena by  Madhav Bhat
Artists like Vidwan Madhav Bhat are so rare that there are only two artists in the entire planet who can whistle sing in Indian classical style. There are people who can whistle pleasingly but to deliver the swara prastara and gayaki ang and bhava is rarest art called Mukha Veena which Vidwan Madhav Bhat has truly mastered. Watching him live can make any ardent listener skip a heartbeat. Madhav Bhat radiates humility, artistry, knowledge, deep devotion and passion for his rare artform. On stage, he unleashes his extraordinary talent with ease and finesse. A single encounter with this amazing being is inspiring enough to realize that creative intelligence can extract the innermost potential to express music in infinite ways.
This amazing artist delivered such a high-intensity performance, that we felt truly honoured to have invited him and his adorable mridangam player and violinist for the festival.

Fusion- Aadarsh (Electric Guitar & Keyboards)
Aadarsh who patiently waited till the fag end of the festival, wanted his performance to happen inside the meditation hall at Kevala. All of us agreed with his choice. We heard his profound talk about his musical journey and deep observations of life as he expressed it through words and music. He presented some delighting pieces on keyboards and then truly rocked the gathering with his deft fingers on the electric guitar. Sinchana stepped in to sing some melodies and dance as the evening became more enjoyable.  As we concluded the festival, there was a rush of memories just watching the stage that was left bare. We could reminisce each of the concerts in those unforgettable 3 days of pure musical ecstasy. None of us wanted the festivity to end. We are flooded with messages of gratitude for offering them a musical treat and eagerness to know about the festival in 2019.

In deepest gratitude
The festival would not have shaped without the immense support of my dear friend Suryaprakash who made sure every detail was in place, as he coordinated tirelessly with sponsors, artists, vendors and guests. Vinaya my dear wife designed the posters, banners, passes, and took every effort to streamline the venue and keep it sparklingly ready for the event. We are in deep gratitude to all our friends, volunteers who supported the Kailasa Music Festival to make it one of the most memorable musical celebration.  Everyone relished every bit of the festivity. The gathering enjoyed the delicious food served by our friends Shubha and Shiva Prasad, who are owners of Java Rain Resorts, the Award-winning Best Resort in Karnataka. Their sincere team offered us delicious food which truly added more zing to the festivity.  The event would not have shaped up without the support of our Sponsors- MSK Group, Transferet, Taaza & Java Rain Resorts who contributed to the Festival and stepped in to make it happen. Importantly we thank all the audiences that made it to this remote destination. Some all the way from Dubai, Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore and from Chikmagalur town.

The Progression
We are not basking in the glory or success of this event. We remind ourselves that Kevala will expand its horizon and be an esteemed music heritage site that will welcome truly pure and talented musicians that truly cares to soak in the sanctified space and express divine music. The fourth edition of Kailasaa Music Festival will be an event to watch out with heightened celebrations with phenomenal artists, classy programming and detailing as we will fine tune every aspect to deliver a memory of a lifetime through musical ecstasy of highest potency.

PS: Watch out this space for live recordings and pictures shot by Our Celebrity Cinematographer ‘Sri CrazyMinds’ and ‘Ajith’ during the Kailasa Music Festival-3.