The desire to reach out to music aficionados is evident in Shubha Mudgal’s voice and rightly so. The excitement and need to put up a festival, which offers a variety of music and isn’t stereotyped by the genre of musical styles, is clearly visible in her warm voice. Baajaa Gaajaa, a three-day music festival, which is in its fourth edition this year from February 10 to 12, is curated by Aneesh Pradhan and Shubha Mudgal. “Aneesh and I support diversity and we are amazed at different styles whether it is chaste classical music, independent music, jazz, folk…whatever sounds innovative and fresh is appealing,” she says. The festival that is held in Pune has been drawing crowds ever since its inception and now has grown into an important entry into the cultural calendar. “It has been a satisfying journey and we’ve done it yet again with an exciting line-up of musicians this year. It started as a bunch of a music lovers coming together to offer something new and it has grown manifold since the first year. We’ve received great support from our friends, musicians, various cultural bodies. But it hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses,” says Mudgal.
She highlights how the festival dynamics are different and organising isn’t close to being an easy task in any sense of duty. And what matters the most for such festivals is sponsorship especially when the event is not ticketed. “The aim was to let music reach out to a huge section of people and for that we can’t have tickets and price tags. As much as I am disappointed to say this, but people these days associate art with entertainment. Well art provides entertainment, but that’s not all that’s there to it. People ask us what’s our target audience like and associate everything with the branding. For me the audience comprises all age groups and we don’t believe in conforming to any stereotypes. I don’t like to use the word patro-nage, because it sounds condescending to any performing art, but that’s the sad reality. Many institutions came and offered their genuine support but not once did we even receive a courteous email acknowledging our request by the ministry of culture. We understand there might be other festivals in the country asking for funding, but a basic courtesy email is not too much to expect,” rues Mudgal.
By not ticketing and keeping everything in its organic form, Mudgal says she doesn’t see it turning into an elite festival where only the upper class or the rich come to socialise. “Thankfully, with the support and help we’ve received from our sponsors, we have survived and hopefully will. The biggest happiness I rece-ive is when people truly enjoy the music and remember to attend it next year. A lady who attended the festival wrote me an email about how her daughter was in tears after the festival got over, so that was overwhelming. It’s these little things that count more than anything else,” says Mudgal.
The line-up this year has an interesting mixed bag of musicians from pure classical to folk and alternate. “Aneesh and I keep listening to a lot of musicians through the year and are fascinated by a whole lot of them. Some of them are really eminent, some are upcoming and some are popular in their space and region. This year we have Adil and Vasundhara, Shubha Jos-hi, Soulmate and so many other such talented musicians. Shubha Joshi is a well-known voice and sin-gs ghazals in a traditional style that is rare to find these days. Our criterion for selection doesn’t depend on seniority, but in innovation which could make a difference with their song writing, novelty and ability to move people with their music,” says Mudgal.
One of the attractions this year is “Dhamaal”, the special drum and percussion concert curated by Aneesh Pradhan, which will include drummers from Manipur. “It is a project curated by Aneesh and it’s an important event as it aims to show the diversity in drumming techniques. It is a celebration of drumming traditions from India and other musical cultures. Folk drummers from various parts of the country collaborate with other percussionists, vocalists and guitarists, to weave a tapestry of rhythm,” elaborates Mudgal. Dhamaal features Dilip Das and group (Kolkata), Manipuri drummers from Anjika, Ramanbaug dhol-tasha pathak (Pune), Shahir Azad Naikawadi kala pathak (Kolhapur), Punj-abi dhol players (Pune), Haridas Shinde and group (Alandi), Ben Walsh and Bobby Singh (Australia), with vocalist Avadhoot Gandhi (Alandi), guitarist Max Clouth and bassist Marc-Inti Mannel Saaved-era (Germany) and others.
Mudgal says that Baajaa Gaajaa is just not a festival, but an extension of other musical projects. “It doesn’t stop here with just the festival. There’s another project we have where we are building an online directory for music so that anyone can go and find the person they want when it comes to music. It’s easy to access and doesn’t have too many levels of moderation. Hopefully, all this will culminate into a more vibrant atmosphere,” says Mudgal.