Sitar concert for mental health awareness

Sitarist and music producer Rishab Rikhiram Sharma is bringing his ‘Sitar for Mental Health’ tour to Bengaluru on Sunday.

The 90-minute performance will include evening ragas and a few popular regional, folk and film numbers. “In Jaipur, I played ‘Kesariya balam’, and in Chennai, I performed a medley of A R Rahman’s songs. In Mumbai, I played a few Bollywood numbers,” he says. In Bengaluru, Sharma plans to perform film numbers like ‘Zara zara’, ‘Saathiya’, and ‘Jiya jale’, which are popular across the country.

Sharma is the youngest and last disciple of sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar. “When it comes to ragas, apart from playing them at their specific time, they also need to be played gently so they can be introspective. I will be performing the ‘rupak taal’ in the classical segment, after which I will perform some of my released and unreleased songs,” he adds.

A mental health advocate himself, Sharma refers to ‘raga chikitsa’ (raga therapy) “as something that has existed for centuries”. He believes it plays an important part in mental wellness. “I found this out due to my own struggle during the pandemic when I lost my grandfather. I went through depression and had anxiety attacks.I went for therapy, and discovered the healing power of music again,” he says.

During a therapy session in 2021, he was advised coping mechanisms like exercising and going back to playing the sitar. “I realised how powerful the instrument was. Classical music is meditative and I wanted to give people an experience of it, while treating it as an outlet for myself. This is how I started sharing my music on social media platforms like Clubhouse and Instagram,” he says.

He took this tour around the world last year including the US, Canada and South America. He also performed multiple shows in India. The end goal is to make people aware about the importance of mental health, Sharma adds. The sitarist will be accompanied by Raghuraman R (on guitar) and Prashant Trivedi (on tabla).

Sitar for Mental Health, March 31, 7 pm, at Prestige Srihari Khoday Centre for Performing Arts, Konanakunte. Tickets online