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.
Smita Bellur
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.
HB Jayaram Achar
HB Jayaram Achar
Bio coming soon.
Madhusudan
Madhusudan
Bio coming soon.
The Universe in a Pot | Sumana Chandrashekar and Saitejas Chandrashekar
The pot in its various forms is the most common musical instrument in India. Cutting across all musical genres, the ghatam has spoken the musical language of the common people as well as expert drummers. Mystics, poets and saints spanning many centuries and regions have extensively used the metaphor of the clay pot to talk about the fragility of the human body and the enormous possibilities of human existence.
In this performance titled The Universe in a Pot, musicians Sumana and Saitejas bring together a sonic and a lyrical experience centred around the simple clay pot. The performance takes the audience on a musical journey that blends together the diverse soundscapes that are possible on this simple yet powerful instrument, along with songs, stories and poetry of the mystics that celebrate the pot.
Sumana Chandrashekar
Bio
Sumana Chandrashekar is a ghatam player, author and researcher and a long time student of Carnatic vocal music. She has performed extensively, has worked on several experimental and collaborative music projects and projects in music education. She has travelled widely in India and has worked closely with artists and artist communities. Her book Song of the Clay Pot came out in 2025.
Saitejas Chandrashekar
Bio
Saitejas Chandrashekar is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and music educator. He has extensive training in Carnatic vocal and Hindustani semi-classical music. He has pioneered the Harmonica in Carnatic music. He is the Director of Hamsanada Foundation, an organisation dedicated to teaching and promoting Indian music on the Harmonica across all genres. Saitejas has performed widely across India.