Shubha Mudgal talks about 'Baajaa Gaajaa'

What started as a small experiment by two music enthusiasts four years ago, has now transformed into one of the much awaited annual music festivals in the country. Singer Shubha Mudgal together with her husband Aneesh Pradhan first organized this fest — Baajaa Gaajaa — four years ago, with an aim to celebrate and popularize all kinds of music (Rock, Blues, Jazz, Hindustani Vocal and Instrumental Music, Carnatic Vocal and Instrumental Music, as well as Folk Music).

 In its fourth edition, Baajaa Gaajaa — a three day long event scheduled to take place from Feb 10 in Pune — will be inaugurated by lyricist Javed Akhtar and will see performances and acts by over 100 artists from various genres of music. So what’s the highlight of the event, this time around? “This time we also have a conclave where renowned faces from the world of music discussing a variety of relevant subjects,” says Shubha.

The panel members for the conclave will include prominent names from the world of music, films, literature and technology like Amol Palekar, Imtiaz Ali, Sujoy Ghosh, Shantanu Moitra, Kiran Nagarkar, to name a few. “We’ll have discussions on Indian music — four different themes — a) Music and technology — a discussion on the use of current technologies to propagate Indian music; b) Music in fiction — exploring writings on Indian music; c) Use of music in film narratives; and d) Use of diverse kinds of music in mainstream.”

Shubha asserts that Baajaa Gaajaa holds special significance for her. “For both Aneesh and I, Baajaa Gaajaa is a year long obsession. We started out saying we’ll just include do performances. But then it kept growing each year. Audiences have been growing. A lot of people have started identifying this festival. Throughout the year we have people writing to us about the nice performances that they have seen and what they think should be included in the fest. It’s really heartwarming!”

What is the essence of this festival? “It is a festaival dedicated to the diversity of classical music,” explains Shubha. “There is traditional dhrupad and at the same time there are also new artists and songwriters who write original English music.” Though the couple chooses to not perform themselves, they leave no stone unturned to make this annual event as rich and diverse as they can.