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Bengaluru-based musicians Saitejas Chandrashekhar and Sumana Chandrashekhar have called out a concert organiser for ‘bigotry’.
Saitejas, who helms Hamsanada Foundation, sings Karnatik classical music and sugama sangeeta. He plays a host of instruments, including the tabla and harmonica. He offers online harmonica courses through the Hamsanada Foundation.
His sister Sumana is a renowned ghatam player and author of the critically acclaimed book Song of the Claypot. She was around when the Mysuru concert organiser told Saitejas not to have Muslims and Christians in his performance group.
Here is the post:
𝗔 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁/𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀
We at Hamsanada Foundation have had an interesting experience today which we thought must be shared with everyone here.
We received a phone call from a ‘so-called’ passionate music organiser from Mysore who wanted to organise a performance by our team in his city. We started off by discussing the concept, the nature of the performance, technicals and the fee. Very soon, the conversation slipped into a bizarre space. In the middle of our discussion, all of a sudden, the man said he had a special request. The request was that our team – to quote him – “should not have any Muslim or Christian artists”. What followed was a long sermon on how it would be ‘dangerous’ for Saitejas to have students from non-Hindu faiths.
We are aware that in these times bigotry and hatred are trying hard to engulf us from all sides. However, we would like to put it out there that we at Hamsanada have been nurturing our space with a lot of love and kindness. We are committed to keeping the organisation open and inclusive for people from diverse backgrounds regardless of caste, religion, gender or any other distinctions. We will always be guided by the spirit of love, compassion, togetherness and the joy of music making.
It would be worthwhile for organisers to know our values before approaching us for performances.
