The first edition of the Kolkata International Drum Festival (KIDF) is set to get underway on Sunday, December 3 at the Calcutta International Club on Shakespeare Sarani. Curated by father-son duo Pandit Subhen Chatterjee and Sambit Chatterjee, it features a stellar lineup of some of India's finest percussionists, who will entertain and enthral audiences with their diverse, new and exciting beats, rhythms and sounds. As the city gets ready to welcome the performers of the sonic festival, here's tuning in to what the star drummers have to say.
"This is a great initiative by Subhenda and Sambit. This festival was much needed. I am really happy to be a part of this. I will be playing some of my compositions with my new project, G.C. and the Giants, which will feature Mainak Nag Chowdhury (Bumpy), Bodhisattwa Ghosh, Ratul Shankar, Tushar Banerjee and Shrestha D," said drummer-percussionist Gaurab Chatterjee and founder of Bengali rock band Lakkhichhara.
"I am very pleased to be performing at the KIDF. The Mumbai Drum Day was the first of this kind and contributed to bringing this vibrant, exciting and challenging art form to the forefront. It harnessed attention and ambitions among students and followers of the Western drum kit and spread such joy. I have been a drummer now for almost 50 years, and only now, in the last few years, have I seen the Western drum kit receive its pride of place in India," said music director and composer Ranjit Barot.
"I am expecting a lot of great drumming and music to happen with an amazing lineup of artistes. I started the Mumbai Drum Day in 2016 to celebrate the drumset as a feature instrument and bring the great drummers, legends and the new talent of India to the forefront. So I am thrilled that Subhenji and Sambit are doing this drum festival in this part of India," said drummer, composer and educator Gino Banks.
"KIDF is a dream project of mine. I wanted a unique platform where all genres of drummers and percussionists get together and create a unique musical ambience which our city hasn't experienced before. It not only helps to build a new kind of audience who can enjoy a festival ranging from tabla to djembe to drums to many ethnic percussion instruments but will also get to experience how these instruments are played uniquely on world music mosaic," said curator and tabla maestro Pandit Subhen Chatterjee.
"I am happy and excited to be doing this with my father, my guru, my band mate and my best friend. We hope to do this every year, we hope to make this bigger and more celebratory. We expect Calcutta to show all their support for this event as it doesn’t belong to us anymore, now KIDF belongs to Calcutta. I am incredibly hopeful about GenZ as they have shown superb response, which means they want Calcutta to be as big as any other city that hosts big festivals," said drummer and co-curator Sambit Chatterjee.
"The drumming culture has roots in bringing people together from all walks of life. Calcutta, which celebrates art and has so many legendary artistes, certainly deserves a festival of this kind," said mridangam player Viveick Rajagopalan. An Indian percussionist with a global vision, Viveick's music, a blend of traditional, funky, dynamic and contagiously pulsating, truly reflects the pulse of contemporary India.
"I am very excited and looking forward to be a part of the first edition of the KIDF. I have been a part of the Mumbai and Bengaluru Drum Day and I am very happy that Calcutta finally has its own drum festival. Festivals like these are very important for the musician community in India and especially for drummers and percussionists of West Bengal," said drummer and composer Darshan Doshi.
