100th year of Navratri Puja celebrations hosted at ‘Veera Venkatesh Prasad’, the residence of N Ekanath Nayak and his wife, Mangalagauri Nayak, at Vitobha Temple Road in Mangaluru
In a collaboration with sound healer Brian Eubanks, he recorded and released Raga Bath on Spotify, blending Hindustani improvisation, including alaaps, with the sounds of frequency-specific bowls to create a meditative listening experience. Baliga is the lead vocalist of VIBRAHA, an electronic-classical band, and a member of the National Sufi Ensemble in Washington DC. His performances have taken him to venues and festivals in India, the United States, Sri Lanka, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. Baliga is also a recipient of the Pandit RV Sheshadri Gawai Award for promoting and performing Hindustani music across geographies. His contribution to preserving the tradition includes ‘Gayana Ganga’, a compilation of Kannada-language bandishes composed by Pandit R V Sheshadri Gawai. The publication helped revive interest in a musical legacy that had remained out of print for three decades.
It will be my honour and blessing to perform at this historic event,” he said. Mangaluru: Thousands of miles away from home, Ashwin Baliga has built a musical journey that spans continents, genres and audiences. But this Navratri, the US-based Hindustani classical vocalist has travelled to Mangaluru to be part of his family’s century-old tradition of worship, music and devotion. “Mangala Nayak met me after a concert in Feb in Udupi and requested me to perform at their family’s centenary celebrations and I immediately obliged. Trained under acclaimed vocalists Pandit Milind Chittal and Mahesh Kale, Ashwin aims to expand the reach of classical music by making it more accessible—by offering translations and contextual explanations that help audiences appreciate the meaning and nuances of compositions.