Sessions
Aeri Sakhi | Smita Bellur
Despite being a popular ‘genre’, Sufi music today, is probably the least understood, and over-simplified as anything that comes with the “Maula Maula” flavour. Often construed as ‘those songs from Rahat fateh Ali Khan’ or, the ‘Qawwalis of Nusrat Sahab’, or, ‘Abida Parween’s gayaki’ – if a lady were to present Sufiana Kalaam – the real backstory of sufiana kalam is something not many speak of.
Sufi singer Smita Bellur will perform “Aeri Sakhi”, a curated set of sufiana, bhakti and love songs that celebrate Ishq-e-Haqiqi. Through her renditions, Smita will present her nuanced interpretation of the seeker’s ode to Divine Beloved. She will be accompanied by musicians from Bangalore – Jayaram Achar on Keys and Madhusudan on Tabla.
Bio
Smita Bellur is a trained Hindustani Classical Sufi singer who has performed at more than 500 venues. Her deep engagement with mysticism and over twenty years of Khayal singing (north Indian classical music) enriches her music. With over 4.3M views on Youtube & 235,000 streams on Spotify, Smita Rao Bellur’s reach as a soulful Sufi singer is growing. Her renditions “Hamari Atariya” for the Netflix series “Ye Kaali Kaali Aankhen” and the “Maanav Adhikar” song, for the National Human Rights Commission, Govt. of India have won her appreciation.
Smita has performed at prestigious festivals such as Jodhpur RIFF, Spree Paisley Festival (Scotland), Jahan-e-Khusrau (Delhi), Rajgir Utsav, Kalaghoda Arts Festival, to name a few. She is a BE, MS (BITS, Pilani) and has worked for tech giants like Oracle and SAP. Smita is now a full-time musician.