Bengaluru’s unique sitar symphony to play at Mysuru palace for Dasara

Founded by Sandeep Vasishta and featuring 30 members, the group plays many genres

A symphony orchestra founded by a Bengaluru musician will perform at Mysuru Dasara on October 1.

Of the 30 musicians in Grand Sitar Symphony, 20 are sitarists. The others play instruments like tabla, drums, saxophone, flute, violin and keyboard. A majority of their music is original and contemporary fusion in style but rich in classical music.

Fourteen musicians will perform at Mysuru Dasara, opening the show with the traditional song of Mysuru ‘Kayo Shri Gowri’, and ‘Aigiri Nandini’, a prayer for goddess Chamundeswari.

“We have shortlisted 17 songs across the genres of classical, semi-classical, folk, Fusion, lavani, devotional, and Western,” says sitar artist and composer H P Srinivasan, who has composed majority of these along with Sandeep Vasishta, a flute and saxophone artist.

GSS was initiated by Sandeep. “In 2019, few event management companies approached me to start a sitar symphony orchestra. That inspired the idea and I gathered seven musicians to begin with,” the R R Nagar resident shares.

GSS has played in almost 60 shows since, touring mostly the state but also Hyderabad, Salem and Coimbatore. During the pandemic, they gave virtual performances for the Indian diaspora, American and European audiences. They released their first album ‘The Grand Sitar Symphony Album 1’ in 2020 — five of the 15 compositions were original. The second album is coming up shortly.

The orchestra has prominent musicians from Bengaluru, Dharwad and Chennai.

*The concert is on October 1, 8 to 9.30 pm, Mysuru Palace.