Event dates: 23rdSep2016, Friday
Venue: Phoenix Marketcity
Timings: 6 Pm on wards
Strisvara a sublime confluence of Indian urban and tribal and international music with female artistes from the US, Sweden, Spain and Nepal: Hosted by the Soliga community of Biligirirangana Hills – Karnataka.
Strisvara, an initiative by TreeonZ is a 18 day residential and concert tour program where women international musicians, Indian professional and independent musicians and native women from B.R Hills, Karnataka would engage in a music exchange program, thereby exchanging culture and traditions ,fostering awareness and education.
The project constitutes of a 13 day residential program (10.09.2016 – 23.09.2016) in the forests of B.R Hills, Karnataka wherein the participants will jam, collaborate, exchange and learn different forms of music and compose original tunes. The entire program will also include the guidance of various mentors and experts, and the musical knowledge of various collaborating artists. This will be followed by a 5 day concert tour (23.09.2016 - 28.09.2016) in Bangalore, wherein these women will be showcasing to the public the music that they have produced through this collaboration. The first Exclusive Performance would be in Phoenix Marketcity, Bangalore.
So watch out for a team of sixteen uber talented artist to perform live at Phoenix Marketcity Bangalore.
International
1. Sara Illana, Spain
Sara Illana is a pianist and flautist from Spain. She studied classical music at Asturias in Spain where traditional music is very strong with bagpipes, the whistle and fiddles being heard everywhere. At the age of 17, she joined the Siero Chamber Orchestra and its project Vínculos (Bonds), a cooperation program in South America that involves music education. In the following years, she played and taught in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Morocco and Greece. Simultaneously, for her final thesis essay, she edited two books on traditional music of Northern Spain, called 'Les cuarenta principales' (The Forty
Main hits), and '99 Cantares asturianos' (99 Asturian Songs').
She has also collaborated with the music & social action project DaLaNota, on free musical and dance
Education for underprivileged children in Madrid, and its platform REDOMI (IberoAmerican Net of Music and Social Action Organizations).
2. Larisa Ljungkrona, Sweden
Larisa Ljungkrona is an accordion player born and based in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is a dynamic musician in every genre she attempts, and her influences gather Nordic, Scottish and European folk music, free and modal improvisation as well as more archaic music. Improvisation and personal expression are the cornerstones in her music and she is constantly searching new ways to challenge herself in her playing and composing. At the age of nine Larisa began to play the accordion.
3. Maja Swedén, Sweden
Born in Gävle, into a music practicing family. Maja grew up listening to multiple genres of
music, and participating in children's choirs. Maja started playing the trumpet at nine years of age, after seeing a concert with the Norwegian brass band The Brazz Brothers. She has played with marching, pop, and jazz bands.
From the age of ten she has played in a children’s orchestra, that later turned into the marching band where she was the drum major for a couple of years.She also started The Deer Tracks, where she launched two albums and toured around Europe. Around the same time, she was recruited in a jazz band, GUBB. She played second trumpet with them for four years, and also collaborated with well-known Swedish Jazz musicians for their album.
4. Shrijana Thapa Periyar, Nepal
Shrijana Thapa Periyar is from Kathmandu, Nepal. A Professional singer, she was born in Dolakha District in a small village, which is 182.7 km to the east from the capital. She took singing lessons from various eastern classical singers in Nepal from whom she learned Hindustani classical music. She qualifies in singing commercial songs and folk traditional music. She has also worked as a Hindustani classical
Instructor in Bangalore at the ICPA ‘International Centre for Performing Arts’ which was founded by Reshmi Nair Gosh.
Presently, she is a music instructor in various private and social institutions in and around Kathmandu Valley. Along with that, she is also working on producing her first solo album.
5. Jenavieve Varga, USA
Jenavieve Varga is a performance violinist, composer, and roaming creative professional. A classically trained violinist since age 3, Jenavieve has performed with chamber orchestras, indy-rock bands, hiphop
super groups, and Indian folk musicians. Her music is the fabric that binds her to the international music scene, where she bridges cultural divides, shedding light on the true meaning, importance, and relevance of world music in our media-rich modern age. Jenavieve performs on Alba, which is a Portland, Oregon based duo, comprised of Varga (violin/vocals, Lost in the Trees) and Dyami Clement (piano/vocals, Lydian Gray). Jenavieve's bright, ethereal orchestration has found collaboration with different Indian musicians as well, from the classic rock of Leslie Lewis, to the indie rock of Sky Rabbit, to the mystical Baul musicians of the Bengal region.
Jenavieve has also performed at the Lincoln Center to serenade the Big Quiet, a mass meditation movement for modern people.
Indian(Urban)
6. Kalyaani Sakkarwal, Mumbai
Kalyaani is an independent singer songwriter based in Mumbai. Kalyaani has a strong voice that is very expressive, echoing the earthiness of her native land Himachal, where she grew up. Resonating with causes such as environmental preservation and animal rights, she is the founding member of an independent band, Anantara, and has been playing extensively across Delhi and lately in Mumbai. She made her video debut with ‘5 Elements’, directing mass attention to the devastation caused by the Uttarakhand floods. Along with the Anantara, she was also the launch artist for Red FM’s Red Bandstand, an initiative that has seen subsequent success nationwide. Apart from developing her vocal ability, Kalyaani counts songwriting, both English and Hindi, as the other thing that keeps her motivated. She is currently working on her debut album.
7. Sangeetha Ravindranath, Mysore
Sangeetha Ravindranath is an Indian Singer. Considered one of the fastest growing playback singer, she has recorded songs for over 45 Kannada movies. Raised in Mysore, Karnataka, she has shown enormous talent and has been acclaimed by many renowned artists. Sangeetha is also a Grade B radio artist.
After making her debut with the song ‘Vone Vone’ for the movie ‘Victory’ with Mika Singh; she went on to win the Best Debutant Female (Santosham South Indian Film Awards) in 2013. She has also
won the Zee Music Awards for Best Singer Female (2014) as a debutant for the song ‘Pakka Local’ from the movie ‘Namaste Madam’. She has worked on numerous commercial and highly popular songs such as ‘Thithlee Thithlee’ from the Sudeep starrer ‘Ranna’ and ‘KD No. 1’ from Yash starrer ‘Masterpiece’.
She also has to her credit being a playback singer in films associated with the superstars of Kannada Film industry like Yash, Sudeep, Darshan, Shivarajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar, Sharan, Komal, Radhika Pandith, Rachitha Ram and Ragini Dwivedi. One of her most recent remarkable works also includes the popular title song from the TV serial, ‘Jothe Jotheyali’ on Zee Kannada.
Sangeetha Ravindranath has also been one of the top 10 contestants on the very popular Celebrity Dance Show "Dancing Star" Season 3, telecast on Colors Kannada.
8. Amrapali Shindhe, Bangalore
Amrapali is a young 20-yr old budding artist from Bangalore, who performs soul, R&B, jazz, pop and rock. She has been regularly active in the music circles ever since she released her first album ‘Basava in You’. Being the first person to sing the Basava Vachanas in folk rock, at the age of 15, she went on to win the ‘Radio Indigo Glam Jam’ with her band ‘Aalap’ and continued to win school and college fests thereafter. Being a student from the ‘Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music’, Amrapali’s singing voice has been aired on Radio One and Radio Mirchi. Another huge success for her was doing an opening set for Arijit Singh’s concert in Bangalore (Phoenix Market City) for a crowd of 7,000 people. She was aired on TV for Season 1 of ‘The Voice’, an Indian singing talent hunt TV show. She made it to the Top 14 in singer Shaan’s team. She has also performed at the Soul Sante. Amrapali is working towards releasing her next single.
9. Simran Ayanna, Mysore
Simran Ayanna is a drummer and vocalist from Mysore, India. Simran has more than 6 yrs. of experience and is multifaceted. She has been pursuing music part-time along with studying Hotel Management in the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), Bangalore.
She has been a part of several bands and has been working with regional artists like Rekha Mohan, Kalpana Venkat, Shruti Kamath and Shilpa Madhusudan on women empowerment themes and is currently setting up her own YouTube Channel.
10. Radhika Babu George, kerala
Radhika Babu George is a percussion player who has played the genres of pop, rock, jazz and eastern music. She has studied tabla from the age of five years and performed at various stages in Kerala. She is also a member of the percussion band WOODEN SHIELD, (first of its kind in Kerala), based in Cochin. She has played drums, djembe, thumba and cajon at various stages with them. She has also played cajon for a music video which presented a mash up of Jiyen Kyun and Fix You. She has been recording songs for various local artists as well.
Tribal
11. Padma
Padma is a tribal artiste from the Soliga tribe who lives in Yerakanagadde Colony, Biligiri Rangan Hills. Within the 400 sacred places in 540 square kilometres of this forest, Padma grew up playing the tamate
with expertise. Padma is an #ArtisteStrisvara and will be collaborating with ten other Indian Urban and International female musicians enabling a renaissance of fusion music collaborations between musicians from different backgrounds.
12. Uma
Uma is a Soliga tribal artiste from the Biligiri Rangan Hills. She lives in the forests and became a singer and dancer celebrating “Doddasampige”, the holiest tree for all for the Soliga tribes and other local people. This tree is revered as Lord Shiva, with traditional dance rituals around the tree culminating into the festival of “Mahashivarathri”. Uma is an #ArtisteStrisvara and will be collaborating with 10 other Indian Urban and International female musicians to understand global influences and cultural exchanges of music and contributing women empowerment through music.
13. Bhagya
Deep in nature’s secluded lap of Biligiri Rangan or BR Hills, Bhagya has acquired indigenous skills of
traditional singing and tribal dancing. Being at the confluence of the Western Ghats and the Eastern
Ghats, her upbringing has been far removed from the modern technology and superficial influences of music. She is a singer and dancer of the Soliga tribe, where music is still pure and dedicated to their rural soil. Bhagya is an #ArtisteStrisvara and will be a part of a confluence of musical and cultural exchange with ten other Indian Urban and
.
14. Kavya
A talented female artiste from the Soliga tribe who sings and plays the Maddale, a percussion instrument from Karnataka and also the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Yakshagana ensemble. Kavya is an #ArtisteStrisvara and will be lending her indigenous beats to a musical confluence with ten Indian Urban and International female musicians. This will strengthen the bond between urban and rural India as well as with other countries in the field of music.
15. Manjula
Manjula is a Soliga tribal musician from Biligiri Rangan Hills. She plays the Kamsale that are rhythmic brass musical instruments. Kamsale are played in pairs. Kamsale is also the name of a unique folk art performed by the devotees of God Mahadeshwara, the origin of which can be traced to the Mythological period. Manjula is an #ArtisteStrisvara and will be a part of a confluence of musical and cultural exchange with ten Indian Urban and International female musicians in a two-week program, planning out strategies to combine their talent and composing original music.
16. Malabika Brahma, Kolkata (Curator-Strisvara)
Malabika Brahma is a gifted musician and a proficient creative artist based in India. Her musical journey
began at the age of three in Indian Classical Music as well as Rabindra Sangeet (Songs of Tagore). But as she grew up she became inclined towards spiritual music, primarily Baul. She was influenced by different spiritual moods such as Vedic Hinduism, the teachings of Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda and Kabir. She believes that Baul philosophy plays an important part in music and it cannot be learnt without a guru since there is a deep belief and practice hidden within these songs, which are allegorical. She was trained in Baul music and its principles under the supervision of great teachers and musicians as Gaur Hari Das, Purna Das Baul, Late Gour Khyapa, Late Subal Das Baul and Sadhan Das Bairagya. A trip into the heart of these traditions provided her a first-hand view of the culture that lies beneath.
Currently she is working as a Cultural Director for the international organization Levantine Public Diplomacy, and collaborates independently with other organizations, lending her ideas for coordinating social engagement and residency programs for artists and youth.
Tribe Band from BR Hills