MUMBAI: Band Baja is a new series promoting young collaborations going beyond the set boundaries of musical genres and traditions, especially by and for the youth. Presented by the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Band Baja will feature Samarpan, a five-year-old band with exceptionally talented young instrumentalists led by Ojas Adhaya (Tabla), a child prodigy.

The series takes off with a young band, Samarpan this Friday, 16 June 2017, at NCPA Experimental Theatre from 8 pm onwards. NCPA encourages all kinds of good music irrespective of the genre. It’s the desire to promote such endeavours among the musically talented that gave rise to The Band Baja series.

Samarpan is the first band to be featured in the Band Baja series, comprising of five talented young men, Ojas Adhiya (tabla), Vishal Dhumal (keyboards), Manas Kumar (violin), I. D. Rao (saxophone) and Gautam Sharma (percussion). They will be putting together odd-time signatures in their pieces, such as switching from pure Indian to Latin to Arabic rhythms, forming songs, adding folk and jazz to a composition based on Indian raga and so on. It is their soul and simplicity that allows their music to connect with the audience. They focus on fusion music while keeping Indian classical music in mind.

The series kick-starts with Samarpan, a musical offering by young artists who are well-rooted in the Indian tradition and seek to create newer expressions through this collaborative venture.

NCPA head of programming for Indian Music, Dr. Suvarnalata Rao said, “We at the NCPA are thrilled to present Band Baja series. All the members of the bands performing in this series are exceptionally trained in their respective idioms. The idea is to put Western and Indian instruments together and just create good music. Band Baja will present an alternative or fusion nature of music.”