MUMBAI: As Shubha Mudgal enters her late 50s, the artist continues to find newer challenges and channels to steer her love for classical music further. In her latest attempt, she dons the hat of a curator. With no plans of slowing down and reflecting on a glorious career that began in the mid 1980s, the musician prepares herself for a refreshing task. Mudgal explores the new opportunity – often undertaken by experienced artistes – of curating the line-up for a dedicated music project at the debut edition of the upcoming Serendipity Arts Festival.

The multi-disciplinary arts event, to be held in Goa, will celebrate several art forms across six stages that will host projects focusing on stage performances, culinary, live music, photography, theatre, crafts and visuals. Mudgal will curate the live music element of Serendipity Arts Festival called ‘Living Traditions’. Joining Mudgal to co-curate the festival will be celebrated couturier Rohit Bal.

Mudgal’s contribution to the world of Carnatic music requires no introduction, and her expertise and experience in the live (classical) music front reflects aptly on the line-up and the entire essence of ‘Living Traditions’. Speaking to Radioandmusic.com, Mudgal said, “’Living Traditions’ is a project that would present classical music using archival information. What it really means is, the three main performing artists and their respective ensembles would reflect how musicians appeared in the early 20^th century. The idea is to re-interpret the era through our project using several elements that would remind or introduce the audience to a generation of musicians that many have grown up listening to.”

From the earlier techniques of sound recording to re-interpreting the entire ‘image’ of the era through aural and visual beautification would be the primary focus of Mudgal-Bal’s joint effort via ‘Living Traditions.’

Performers at Living Traditions -

Hailing from Moradabad, sarangi maestro Murad Ali will be accompanied by two tanpura players and Aneesh Pradhan on tabla, followed by Purbayan Chatterjee (of Shastriya Syndicate) with a similar set-up. Patiyala Gharana’s Kaushiki Chakrabarty, the third classical representative for the festival, will be accompanied by Ajay Joglekar on harmonium, Yogesh Samsi on tabla and two tanpura support personnel.

With a similar responsibility for a similar project at Serendipity Arts Festival, renowned drummer Ranjit Barot will curate ‘Karvaan’ that would feature musicians from India and beyond. With Flamenco guitarist Francisco Gonazalez Agudo and percussionist Quevedo Garcia Jose and American keyboardist Osam Ezeldin representing the international line-up, Karvaan’s Indian essence would arrive through one of the most prominent names of Indian folk – Managaniyars (Rajasthan). Karvaan would lead to a melodic soundscape through an ensemble of rhythm and world music in-sync with Serendipity’s mission to explore culture beyond generic ways.

The festival will be held in Goa from 16 to 23 December.