Performers At The Sacred Arts
A Festival Curated By Teamwork Arts

Santanu Ganguly

Vocal Rasta has been active for the past few months and was recently seen at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival and Sounds of Freedom where they performed in front of Binoy Varghese and Velamkanni Matha. Comprising of 15 performers singing Acapella (only voices), trained by Antoine Redon and Subhadra Kamath, the group brings together a rich repertoire celebrating the freedom of creative expression through a popular rendition of songs and their own compositions, “Freedom”, “Love”, “Respect”, “Chain”, “Right left”. Behrupiyas make their livelihood by enacting different characters out which monkeys seem to be the most popular.

Their performance was presented in front of K. Bhaskar Rao’s Hanuman puppet. The Panchavadyam performers would lead the been players into the venue space depicting that the Panchavadyam performers are rooted in the South Indian tradition and the been players are the outsiders. Panchavadyam, literally meaning an orchestra of five instruments, is a temple art form that has evolved in Kerala. Of the five instruments, four — thimila, maddalam, ilathalam and idakka — belong to the percussion category, while the fifth, kombu, is a wind instrument. The performance was held in front of Vivek Vilasini’s temple. Yoga session Vayu Shiva Shakti form of devotion was conducted by Vayu Yoga with Suresh Dutt Sharma and Capucine Redon. The idea behind it was that by connecting the centers of our hearts, we are sharing our Vayu, and letting the wind of love flow… “Letting the heart lead”… till the ultimate union, it is an inner dance of love.