Mahindra Percussion Festival 2026: Tapping into the primal

“Without rhythm, melody would float off without direction. Percussion brings tempo, pulse, and groove; it is the structural backbone of music,” says VG Jairam, festival director of the Mahindra Percussion Festival.

Talking about the upcoming Mahindra Percussion Festival 2026, he adds, “Percussion itself as a form of expression lies at the heart of music. It has been the heartbeat of music from ancient tribal gatherings to modern day concerts. Rhythm is humanity’s most primal and powerful form of expression.”

Titled, The Pulse Within, the festival, which will be held on March 7 and 8, will feature a range of genres, instruments and artistes who have curated special pieces for this event.

Jairam says the curation process included hardcore percussion artistes as well as “those extending their art form and musicality by putting percussion in the heart of their performance.” He mentions vocalist Mahesh Kale who will be presenting Yatra, “the spiritual rhythmic sounds of India and how he is exploring an expression of infinity through rhythm.”

Jairam says though certain pieces at the festival are hardcore rhythm, “we are adding a bit of melody to it as well as voices, even while focussing on percussive elements in a strong way.”

One of the highlights of the festival will be a collaboration between mridangist Umayalpuram K Sivaraman, tabla artiste Ishaan Ghosh and drummer Shravan Samsi, titled Nada Pravaham – Circle of Sound. 

“If you look at Indian classical music — whether it is the tabla, ghatam or any other instrument that aids in the rhythmic cycle or taal — percussion is not purely decorative, but rather the key architecture of a piece,” says Jairam.

From a previous edition of the Mahindra Percussion Festival
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The festival will see the presence of unusual instruments such as the parai. “Though this art form is associated with funerals in South India today, there is a lot of history behind it which has largely been forgotten. The overall objective of the festival has always been to make percussion more accessible and listener-friendly to the younger generation, so they understand its value and see how deeply rooted it is in our culture.”

Another important segment of the festival is Women Who Drum, which will features musicians Swarupa Ananth, Charu Hariharan, Nush Lewis, Hamta Baghi, and Shalini Mohan. Grammy nominee Bickram Ghosh will be presenting Drums of the East at the festival.

“A lot of effort has gone into each of these curations and audiences are in for a treat as many of these pieces have been created specifically for this festival and have not been performed before. We hope to expose the younger generation to the rich, percussive culture of our country and the world with this festival,” says Jairam.

“India has such a variety of percussion and rhythm languages across every region, it probably changes every 100 kilometres! That is what we are constantly exploring and finding ways to curate.”

The Pulse Within, by Mahindra Percussion Festival 2026 in association with The Hindu, will take place on March 7 and 8, 2026, at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Konankunte, Bengaluru from 5pm. Schedule of events and tickets starting from ₹1000 available on BookMyShow