Muditha Arts Festival

By SHOBANA RAGHAVAN

Founded in late 2025, the Singapore-based collective takes its Sanskrit name, Muditha, meaning ‘joy found in another’s happiness’. That spirit of shared artistic purpose permeated its inaugural three-day festival held from 24 to 26 July 2026 at the PGP Hall.

Following the welcome address by Muditha’s director and CEO, Soundarya Sukumar, the festival opened with Earth and Strings, an innovative concert conceived by the ghatam maestro Sukanya Ramgopal, who has spent more than five decades redefining the artistic possibilities of the percussion instrument. Her concept of GhataTharangam, featuring multiple ghatams tuned to different swaras in a given raga, transformed percussion into a melodic protagonist, challenging the conventional Carnatic concert format where rhythm typically remains in a supporting role.

With an accomplished all-women ensemble comprising flautist Vani Manjunath, violinist Prema Vivek, morsing artist Bhagyalakshmi M. Krishna and mridangist Lakshmi Rajasekar, the concert exhibited remarkable cohesion among the artists, favouring musical conversation over the traditional soloist-accompanist hierarchy.

Highlights included evocative explorations of ragas Kuntalavarali, Mohanam and Madhyamavati with ghatams tuned to the swaras present in these ragas, culminating in the beautifully conceived Kumbh Mela, where melody and rhythm intertwined seamlessly. Equally memorable was the Hameerkalyani composition tuned by violinist and scholar R.K. Sriramkumar to the lyrics of H.H. Chandrasekharendra Bharathi, which balanced rhythmic sophistication with melodic elegance.

Occasional sound imbalance affected the tonal clarity of the ghatams, while the morsing deserved a more expansive role. The kalpana swara passage in Mohanam also lingered slightly beyond its natural conclusion. Yet these remained small blemishes in an otherwise deeply satisfying performance, distinguished as much by the camaraderie among the artists as by their technical brilliance.

Day two offered an entirely different, yet equally compelling, proposition. When Two Traditions Converse with One Voice brought together Carnatic vocalist Vignesh Ishwar and Hindustani vocalist Kaustuv Kanti Ganguli in a collaboration that rose above the novelty often associated with cross-cultural presentations. Instead, it became a genuine musical dialogue rooted in mutual respect, deep scholarship and artistic curiosity.

The concert illuminated the phraseology-based choice of ragas in the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions, thus giving room to build on the earlier raga sung. Tyagaraja’s Eti janmamidi in Varali, juxtaposed with the Hindustani Multani, revealed fascinating melodic intersections, while Brochevarevarura traversed Khamas, with Vignesh beginning the piece from the anupallavi. He followed this with niraval in Adhuramukha, while Kaustuv delineated Misra Khamaj with remarkable ease. Phrase-based raga shifts corresponding to tonic shifts (grahabhedam) brought out the essence of Hameerkalyani, Salagabhairavi, Poorvikalyani, Begada and Behag alongside their Hindustani counterparts.

Sayee Rakshith’s elegant violin accompaniment and Subhadeep Kumar Biswas’ sensitive harmonium support blended effortlessly. The concluding rhythmic dialogue between Praveen Sparsh on the mridangam and tabla artist Vimal Venkatraman lacked some of the spontaneity and structural cohesion evident elsewhere. Vignesh also occasionally drifted away from the microphone, causing some of the softer nuances to be lost. These minor distractions, however, did little to diminish an intellectually stimulating and emotionally rewarding concert. As emcee Suresh Kumar rightly observed, this was an honest conversation between musical friends!

Krishna, the Blue Magic

The festival concluded on a reflective note with Dushyanth Sridhar’s discourse on Lord Krishna, a presentation that seamlessly blended scholarship, storytelling, humour, music and devotion. Rather than merely narrating familiar episodes from Krishna’s life, Dushyanth illuminated profound Vedantic truths through accessible storytelling, portraying Krishna as a playful child, compassionate king, astute diplomat and ultimately Jagadguru.

Beginning with a Gita Dhyana sloka, he drew audiences into an engaging exploration of Krishna’s many roles, balancing philosophical depth with contemporary relevance and effortless wit. His interpretation of Brihadwaccha and the episode of Kalinga Nartanam exemplified his gift for making complex scriptural ideas resonate with modern audiences.

Music formed an integral part of the discourse rather than serving as interludes. Vocalists Anahita and Apoorva enriched the narrative through multilingual devotional compositions including Swagatham Krishna, Sarasijanabha sodhari, Muddugare and the uplifting Gopi Gopala laal, culminating in an audience-wide chorus of “Vitthala”. Bombay V. Anand’s refined violin accompaniment and Mumbai R. Subramaniam’s understated mridangam playing enhanced the devotional atmosphere without ever overshadowing the narration.

The festival displayed commendable artistic breadth overall. Hindustani vocalist Seema Ovalekar’s Kabir Vani — Pearls of Wisdom brought Kabir Das’ timeless verses vividly to life, while In Unison — SamaGama, curated by Sanjay Subramaniam in collaboration with the Singapore Indian Orchestra & Choir, offered an imaginative synthesis of Carnatic music and choral expression. Equally significant was Seasons Within— an exploration of the connection between nature’s seasons and human emotion through the music of Sudha Raghuraman and team and the Bharatanatyam of Meera Balasubramanian and dancers. The panel discussion that followed in the afternoon, What Say You?, moderated by Raja Segar, Editor, Tamil Murasu, addressed the opportunities and challenges of sustaining Indian classical arts within Singapore’s multicultural society.

What distinguished the Muditha Arts Festival was not merely the calibre of its artists but the coherence of its artistic vision. Each programme explored a dialogue — between melody and rhythm, scholarship and devotion, heritage and innovation —while remaining firmly anchored in Indian classical values.

(The author is a Bharatanatyam teacher and the artistic director of Sambhav Raga, Singapore)