JOIN USCity’s first all-drums festival on Feb 15
The drum festival will take place on February 15 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall. The festival is curated by renowned jazz drummer B S Arun Kumar from ‘The Babu School of Rhythms’.
The festival will feature drummers from all over the country including Ranjit Barot, Gino Banks, Jairow Kavi, Jeoraj Stanly, Vinayak Pol and Arun Kumar The programme will also feature drum face-off between performers.
“A festival dedicated to drums is not new. It has been happening all over the world for many years now. But this is the first time it is happening in our city,” says Arun.
He says that the main aim of this festival is to make it a point that drums are more than just an accompaniment. Playing the drums to Carnatic music is another highlight of the festival.
Metrolife spoke to a few of the performers, and here is what they say.
Well-known drummer Ranjit Barot feels that the festival is indicative of how well connected the drum community is. He says, “The gratitude for the instrument is shown through the festival, and I think the kind of unity that drummers have is not seen among other instrumentalists.”
Another well-known drummer Jairow Kavi says, “It is about time that drummers come to the fore as the instrument is generally seen as an accompaniment. As drummers, we get to play to the newer audience too”.
Jairow adds that the festival allows one to explore different forms of drumming patterns.
“If you like watching drummers, this is the festival for you,” he says.
Jeoraj George, who has been playing drums for more than 17 years, says that it is a privilege to be a part of a festival. He adds,” The best part about the festival is that aspiring drummers get to watch the performances from drummers they look up to.”
Sumukh Ravishankar, a city-based drummer shares his thoughts about the festival. “A festival dedicated to drums is something we drummers look forward to,” he says. He adds that he has been wanting the attend the drums festival in Mumbai and is happy that the festival has now come to Bengaluru.
Schedule
- When: February 15
- Where: Chowdiah Memorial Hall
- Time: 7 pm
- Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com
About curator
B S Arun Kumar, trained under his father BS Sukumar and drummer Ranjit Barot, is also trained in Carnatic percussions. Arun has performed with artistes like R K Srikantan, M Balamuralikrishna, A K C Natarajan, T V Gopalakrishnan, Sudha Raghunathan, L Subramaniam, M S Sheela, Nithyashree Mahadevan, Vijay Siva, Abhishek Raghuram and many more. He is an active member of the music fraternity in the South Indian Film Industry. He is also the featured drummer in Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej’s ensemble.
Founded 35 years ago by BS Sukumar Babu, Babu School of Rhythm has around 135 students. The school is affiliated to The Trinity School of London for graduation courses in drums. In 2011, the school presented a ‘one hundred and one drums’ musical event –
a first of its kind performance in India featuring one hundred and one drums.