Catch dynamic musicians The Bangalore Quartet on their national UK tour this Autumn.
Singer Ajay Warriar, singer/flautist Varijashree V and acclaimed multi-instrumentalists Praveen D Rao and Pramath Kiran form this dynamic young band of talented artists who cross musical boundaries with their eclectic performance style.
Chakrafonics mixes traditional Indian classical music, Kannada Light music (poetry) and devotional music with best-loved film hits (old & new) and Ghazals of legendary singers including Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh.
Presented by SPS Arts in association with Sampad. The Bangalore Quartet will be on tour nationally with Chakrafonics throughout Autumn
Chakrafonics Autumn Tour 2014
Sunday 19 October – Chesterfield
In association with Kannada Balaga. Information and booking via www.kannadabalaga.co.uk
Saturday 25 October – Liverpool
In association with Swati Dance. The event takes place 7.30pm — 9.30pm at The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool Hope University as part of ‘Samyoga – A Journey of Togetherness’. Information and booking details via www.swatidance.com
Sunday 26 October — London
In association with Dhruv Arts. The Bangalore Quartet will be performing at Rich Mix, London as part of the London International Festival. Information and booking details via www.richmix.org.uk
Sunday 2 November — Birmingham
Presented by Sampad In association with SPS Arts. The event starts at 4.30pm at Ruddock Performing Arts Centre at King Edward VI High School, Edgbaston and also features the finalists in the SARGAM Singing Contest. Information and booking details above on this page.
Saturday 8 November — Glasgow
In association with Scottish Karnataka Sangha. The performance will take place at the Hindu Temple of Scotland Hall, Rutherglen, Glasgow. Information and booking details via www.scottishkarnatakasangha.org.uk
Friday 14 November — Walsall
In association with University of Wolverhampton, Performance Hub. There will be a matinee performance at The Performance Hub, University of Wolverhampton (Walsall Campus). Information and booking details tbc — please contact Sampad on 0121 446 3260
Sunday 16 November — Leicester
In association with Shruti Arts. 7pm at 16 Upper Brown Street (the OLD Phoenix), Leicester, LE1 5TE. Information and booking details via http://shrutiarts.com
About the Bangalore Quartet
The Bangalore Quartet is a band of experienced artists with a vision of crossing the borders of traditions with bridges of world music. The band offers a wide spectrum of genres including:
- Indian Traditional Classical ( Vocal and Instrumental )
- Classical Fusion ( Vocal / Instrumental )
- Kannada Light music ( Poetry )
- Devotional Music (Bhajans and Saint poetry in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. )
- Film hits / Film Fusion ( Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam (Old & New)
- Ghazals (Ghazals of Legendary singers Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh, Hariharan, Madhu Rani etc)
- Workshops (Appreciation of Indian Music, Classical Vocal, Classical Flute, Tabla, Afro Latin Percussions, Morching etc.)
- Viveka Sangeetha ( A musical feature on Swami Vivekananda specially created on the occasion of the 150th Birth anniversary celebration which includes songs written, composed, sung and liked by Swamiji)
About Ajay Warrier
Ajay is a very popular professional singer with strong musical roots in Carnatic classical music. He excels in singing across genres and media in a variety of languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu and Hindi. He has, to his credit, several solo numbers for various movies under talented music directors. Ajay has toured to the Middle East, USA, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia and has accompanied and recorded with stalwarts like Shri. K. J.Yesudas, Sri Ilayaraja, Sri S. P. Balasubramaniam, Sri P. B. Srinivas, Sri Hariharan, Smt Vani Jayaram,Smt S.Janaki, Smt P.Susheela & Smt K.S.Chitra to name a few.
About Varijashree V
Varijashree is a multi-faceted Carnatic singer and flautist who is equally at ease with classical, playback, Ghazals or world music. As a child prodigy she had the rare ability to identify around 40 ragas at the tender age of one and a half and around 200 at the age of 4. Since then she has scored music for short films, TV soaps, documentaries and theatre productions and has her own brand name ‘VARIations’ that features her original compositions. A multi-genre musician, she has collaborated with veteran artists such as Siva Mani, Hariharan, Lesle Lewis, Rajesh Vaidya, Praveen D Rao, Keith Peters and Suresh Peters.
About Praveen D Rao
Praveen is a classical musician and a noted Indian Music director with an international reputation. As a multi-instrumentalist, he is proficient in a range of percussion instruments, keyboards and electronic media and was trained by Pt. R. V. Sheshadri Gavai and Tabla Maestro Pandit Ravindra Yavagal.
As a composer, Praveen has created a style of his own in creative music. Over the course of 20 years, he has composed scores for theatre, dance, film and television. As an arranger, he is known for his creativity in fusing Hindustani music and Carnatic music with western techniques and has worked with acclaimed music directors like Sri M. S. Sathyu, Vid. Lalgudi G.Jayaraman, Vid. L.Vaidyanathan, Dr C. Ashwath.
He has created music for Abhinava Dance Company’s Ta Dha, Rama Katha Vismaya, Katakitathom (India), Chitraleka Dance Company’s Kaishiki, Story of C, Tears of Fire (UK), Sampad’s musical Motherland (UK), Milap’s youth orchestras Samyo and Tarang (UK), Sampradaya Dance Company’s Vivarta, Shoonya, Taj (Canada), Threeaksha’s Prayog (USA), Bharathanjali’s Buddha (Malaysia), Sampad’s Moving Earth for the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad (UK)
About Pramath Kiran
Pramath is a well-known percussionist who trained in Tabla under Pt. Udayraj Kapoor and Vidwan Anoor Ananthakrishna who taught him Morching (Jews harp) in traditional Carnatic style.
Pramath has accompanied stalwarts like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna , Dr. L Subramaniyam ,Pt. Shivkumar Sharma & Pt. Rahul Sharma, Hariharan , Shankar Mahadevan, violin duo Ganesh Kumaresh , Chitraveena Ravikiran , Veenai Jayanthi to name a few, in several music festivals all over the world . He has toured to the UK, USA, Australia , France, Germany , Poland,Netherlands , Singapore , Malaysia , Middle East and many more .
Pramath Kiran is a part of the bands like LAYATHARANGA from India and INDIALUCIA from Poland and is well known for his world music percussion including instruments like Djembe , Congas and Cajon . He has performed and recorded with several Jazz musicians such as Louis Pragasam, Spinifex Orchestra (Netherlands), George Brooks , Ossam , Amit Heri , Leszek Hefi and Keith Peters.