VINDYA

The 18th Samarbeta residency was the successful applicant of our open call residency opportunity for female, trans & non-binary musicians;  London-based composer, violinist and DJ Vindya.
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During her residency at Islington Mill, Vindya explored ways of combining Konnokol, an art form which can be defined as the vocal performance of percussion syllables in South Indian Carnatic music, and Techno, a four-to-the-floor electronic dance music genre. 

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“The idea behind this project would be to take the music I compose for the concert hall onto the dance floor." Vinthya Perinpanathan

They were joined by percussionist Mithushan Sivagurunathar, an artist who learnt Mridangam under the tutelage of Sri M Balanchandar at the Bharathya Vidya Bhavan and has developed a nuanced understanding of fusing his classical training with the diverse music of London.

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Together they produced new new techno tracks and a live performance, premiered at Sounds from the Other City on Sunday 30th April, with Vindya chopping and mixing Konnokol samples into her Techno DJ set with live vocal percussion from Mithushan. 

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During the residency Vindya & Mithushan delivered a artist talk giving a brief history of Techno & Konnokol which explored the two contrasting music idioms. Following the talk everyone had a delicious Sri Lankan meal together and then VIndya delivered a DJ workshop. The workshop was for people who don't identify as cis male with the aim to encourage other gender identities to try their hand at DJing.