Did you know that one of the artistes featured in Women of Rhythm Season 3, Mumbai’s Mukta Raste was chosen to teach Sonam Kapoor how to play on the tabla for the movie ‘Padman’ and that Srishty Patidar from a small village Palba in Madhya Pradesh is a world record holder? Two years ago, Patidar broke the world record of 24 hours set by a Mexican girl, by drumming for 31 hours non-stop.The record was recognized by the US based Golden Book of World Records. Did you also know that Charu Hariharan, an Mridangam artiste with a Masters in Psychology decided to leave it for music?

Raste, Patidar and Hariharan’s story is as inspiring as it gets. The notion of “girls can’t do a particular thing” gets to them each time, proving that “Nothing is impossible”. 

It is a known fact that in India and maybe some parts of the world, we’ve idolized male performers, who have taken the highway to monetary gain and fame. But the trend is changing for despite sexism, racism, poverty and a host of other troubles; the female voice is finally using their talent to being heard, either vocally or musically.

Today a new generation of entertainers is shaping youth culture with sparkle laden drums solos and percussion instruments that one could regale in.

As curator of the annual Women of Rhythm which took place on 30^th November 2018, co partner Aditya Prabhu discusses his ideas for the series and his interests in art and music with Verus Ferreira.

How did you come up with the idea for Women in Rhythm? You also had the Dumru festival. Can you tell us the journey into this art?

Our company organizes the Dumru Percussion Festival since 2011. We have featured some of the best percussionists in the World. Surprisingly in the three seasons of the Dumru Festival, we had never featured Women Percussionists. Maybe it was our negligence or lack of research that we didn’t recognize and promote Women who played percussion. Music doesn’t differentiate based on religion, sex or caste, then why this divide. Why wernt Women who played percussion recognized or promoted like their male counter parts. This was our main reason to organize a concert series for Women Percussionists where we could find, develop and promote talented women who played percussion. The Goal going ahead is to program 40 % of the Dumru Festival with Women percussionists slowly taking that number upto 50% in the years to come. Many developed countries across the world have their own Drum Festival. Till 2011, India didn’t have its own Rhythm/Percussion festival. Given the diversity of Rhythm and Music in India, we decided to come up with India’s First Percussion Festival and called it DUMRU Percussion Festival.

Was it something that influenced you and inspired you to create this upcoming performance?

The mere Talent of these percussionists, the variety and freshness they bring to the performance, their willingness and eagerness to learn/experiment with new sounds and the lack of promotion for them has been our main source of inspiration.

What does curating such an ensemble entail?

Firstly, a research on the talent is very important. Not many women who play percussion are marketing themselves and finding them is a huge problem. for example, Sobhita and Rahita Krishnadas are two young and supremely talented Chenda Artistes from Thiruvananthapuram.  We knew of many men who played the Chenda because Chenda is predominantly an instruement played by men in the Temples of Kerala and Tamilnadu. Women didn’t play the Chenda. On researching we found articles and information of one girl who the media claimed was the first woman to play the Chenda. They were wrong. When we contacted stellar Mridangam artiste Charu Hariharan from Kerala and asked her to curate a performance including Mridangam and Chenda, she introduced us to Mr. Krishnadas who is a world renowned Chenda Maestro and teacher and whose daughters play the Chenda like they were born to play it. The artistes help us find and curate the performances. Ghatam Maestro and the first Woman to play the Ghatam Vidushi Sukkanya Ramgopal has been very instrumental in advising and introducing us to many young and upcoming Women who play percussion and so has Pandita Anuradha Pal who started India’s first all female Percussion Ensemble called “ Stree Shakti” we are so grateful to them.

What criteria are you looking for when you select performers for the event?

We curate each act. We don’t simply hire bands or known artistes and ask them to perform. We did that in the first Edition where we has six solo performances. For example – The first act for Women of Rhythm Edition 3 is a curated collaboration between three Stick Drummers Siddhi Shah, Ananya Patil and Shristy Partidar. All three are at different levels in drumming Siddhi being the senior most and a very mature and advance drummer. Three of them will be collaborating for the first time and each of them will be trying their hand at a new percussion instrument. So its basically bringing them out of their comfort zone and allowing them to explore the enormous variety there is in Percussion.  Ofcourse, we have a headlining act where a well known and senior artiste performs. But that’s also unique and well curated so that the audience and ticket buyers are treated to something new and fresh.

Are the artists performing on a basic fee or for free?

As a policy, we don’t think any artiste should ever play for free. Especially when the promoters are charging a ticket and inviting sponsors to fund their expenses. Our ultimate goal is to achieve equality in payments for Women Artistes. The disparity in Male and Female artistes is as shocking as the payment gap.

Was it easy to bring on artists from all over the country for such a mega event considering the cost factor?

Its never easy considering the cost factor. We have tried to work smart and found deals that suited us and the artistes. Luckily for us, our artistes are very adjusting and they have always considered the fact that we are trying hard to make them comfortable and produce a successful event.

What challenges did you face in bringing this event together?

Like almost every small event and festival organizer, Sponsorship is our number one Challenge. And it has been because of the “ Different event” factor. We have been working hard to convert sponsors and we will continue to do so. No money means no readily available resource to adequately market the Event. And hence we have to spend from our own pockets, sometimes borrowing from Family and Friends. Secondly, availability of weekend dates with Auditoriums in Mumbai. No matter how far ahead you enquire, the dates never seem to be available. We were lucky that Firday 30^th November was available with St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. Finally, the numerous events happening on the same date is threatening. We have to always do something different to stand out so that audiences are enticed to come and attend by buying tickets.

Post the event, is there some kind of support that you offer the artists for the future?

We dabble at Artiste management when we not organizing event. Atleast we try to. We promote the artistes with Event Management Companies and Festival Organisers so that they could be featured in their upcoming events. So far we have received numerous enquiries for our Women of Rhythm. We also assist the artistes in making their Showreels and Profiles which can be sent to promoters across the world. Our social media pages are doing well for our artistes. There is a lot more we can do and in time we will.

Is there any plan to start a community of drummers that can meet and regularly share gigs and give empowerment to women after the event is over?

All the Women who play at Women of Rhythm are self empowered Girls/Women. They fought for years to get where they are. There is no second to their resilience. They don’t want to be called “Female Percussionists” They just want to be knows as Percussionists or Artistes. How many times have we heard Male Artiste or Male Percussionist or Male Drummer? Thankfully, drummers in our country are very supportive and they make sure they help in any way they can when young artistes go to them for help and advice

What do you feel are the reasons many women don’t take to drums, male domination, cost of drums…….?

The problem across the world is that Girls/Women are told what they can or cannot do. And that’s a serious problem. Girls don’t play drums is a common notion. In Indian Music that disparity is even bigger. While Percussions, Drums, Guitar, Sitar, Sarangi and almost all other instruments are Male dominated, Women have to settle for the Violin, Piano, Dance, Vocals. In every 10 male musicians we find (point 25) female musicians in the Hindi Film Music Industry loosely called Bollywood Music.This however, is changing, and we are in the process of bridging that gap.

It has often been mentioned that "the future of music is in live". What's your perspective on this?

Music is Improvisation and improvisation happens best on a live stage. So yes, we strongly believe in the power of “Live”. The audiences are slowly moving from entertainment to Experiences. Those which can be captured and posted. Audiences are becoming more aware of their needs and “ live” is providing them with those customized experiences.

Are there any success stories you can share wherein women have managed to move on their own and get offers for playing in a band or Bollywood?

There are many, but the one that comes to mind is the journey of Bassist Mohini Day who has become the best Bassist in the country and tours regularly with the best Hindi Film Music Bands and World Music Acts. One of the artistes we are featuring in Women of Rhythm Edition 3, Mukta Raste was chosen to teach Sonam Kapoor how to play on the Tabla for the movie Padman. Anuradha Pal was one of the only Indian Musicians to be invited to Perform at The Woodstock Festival in 1998 and Charu Hariharan, a Mridangam Artiste from Kerala has been composing music for Malyalam Films.

Are you planning on having this event in other cities too?

Yes, We have covered Mumbai and Pune in 2018 and this year Women of Rhythm moves to Indore, Bangalore and Delhi. We will be hosting 3-4 editions of Women of Rhythm throughout the year in Different cities with an objective of finding and promoting Women from those cities.