How Giridhar Udupa reaches out to the physically and mentally challenged through music

The Udupa Music Festival, which was launched in 2016, is no longer just a celebration of music but espouses the cause of the mentally and physically challenged. Presented by the Udupa Foundation, started by ghatam artiste Giridhar Udupa in 2015, the three-day event will be held at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bengaluru, from February 20 to 22.

The festival opens with a vocal recital by Begum Parveen Sultana with Ravindra Katoti on the harmonium and Ojas Adhiya on the tabla. The evening continues with a sitar recital by Purbayan Chatterjee, also accompanied by Ojas Adhiya on the tabla.

On February 21, audiences will be treated to a talavaadya kutcheri, featuring vidwan Thiruvaarur Bakthavathsalam on the mridangam, Naveen Sharma on the dholak, and Vijay Shamrao Chavan on the dholki. Later that evening, Ranjani and Gayatri will present a vocal recital, accompanied by Charumathi Raghuraman on the violin, Sai Giridhar Kuchibhotla on the mridangam, and Vazhapally R. Krishnakumar on the ghatam.

The festival concludes on February 22 with a fusion concert, featuring Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on the Mohana veena, Shashank Subramanyam on the flute, Sivaramakrishnan on vocals, Darshan Doshi on the drums, Sheldon D’Silva on the bass guitar, and Manjunatha Sattyasheel on the drums and percussion.

“The festival is an annual fundraising event, alternating between the Udupa Music Festival and the Udupa Dance Festival. While I curate the music edition, the dance part is curated by my wife and Bharatanatyam dancer Sandhya Udupa,” says Giridhar.

The foundation is a tribute to his father, vidwan Ullur Nagendra Udupa, a mridangist and “my first guru. His health has been deteriorating since 2012, and over the years, he stopped performing or even stepping out of the home. Yet, when I practise, he reacts. That is when I told myself that there are so many people like my father confined to their beds. Hence we decided to take the concerts to them: homes, hospitals, and care centres.”

A concert at Karunashraya Hospice Trust
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: Udupa Foundation

Giridhar has organised over 170 concerts to date across palliative care centres in Bengaluru, cancer hospitals, old-age homes, homes for the mentally challenged and government schools. “Through these charitable concerts, we provide a platform for young musicians from across Karnataka. To encourage them, the artistes also get paid for their performances. To continue this mission we need the funds, which we raise through the music and dance festivals,” he shares.

Performing at hospitals and care centres has been “a deeply moving experience. While we set up a stage for the artistes, our audiences here are bound to wheelchairs and beds. Music calms and heals the mind and heart,” says Giridhar, whose latest concert was at Karunashraya-Bangalore Hospice Trust.

Giridhar credits his father for shaping his musical journey. “He gave me wings to explore genres. I have collaborated with Hindustani and jazz and has embraced every kind of music,” says Giridhar, who began training in mridangam at the age of four under his father, and later continued learning from Sukanya Ramgopal and V. Suresh. 

In fact, it was his father who suggested that Giridhar learn to play the ghatam, which became “the turning point” in his life. By the time Giridhar was nine, he was accompanying his father in concerts, and in 1997 he became a member of Layatharanga, an all-percussive band blending Indian classical, folk and world music, alongside Arun Kumar, Pramath Kiran, Ravichandra Kulur, and Jayachandra Rao. He has also accompanied stalwarts including L. Subramaniam, M. Balamuralikrishna, Mandolin Shrinivas, Bombay Jayashri and Sudha Raghunathan.

Recalling his association with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Giridhar says, “The tabla legend performed at the inaugural concert of the Udupa Foundation and the very first edition of the Udupa Music Festival in 2015. Though Zakirbhai was happy that I launched the foundation, he advised me to never stop performing or practising. I owe him a lot.” 

 He also acknowledges the encouragement of mridangam exponent Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, and the guidance of the Udupa Foundation’s advisory board comprising Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, R.K. Padmanabha, Sukanya Ramgopal, Mysore M. Nagaraj, Mysore Manjunath, A. Sivamani, Bombay Jayashri and Stephen Devassy.

Giridhar’s love for jazz has also led to collaborations that have extended beyond borders, including working with Berlin-based electronic musician Sam Shackleton, producing his own album My Name is Giridhar Udupa, and sharing the stage with John McLaughlin, which he calls “one of the most iconic moments.”

The Udupa Music Festival, true to its format, dedicates each of its three days to a genre — Carnatic, Hindustani and jazz or fusion. For Giridhar, the distinction between accompanist and soloist is fluid, as he explains: “As an accompanist, you learn the nuances of music endlessly. As a soloist, you explore rhythm’s universality. Carnatic rhythm is so sophisticated that it adapts to any genre. In the end, it’s not about the instrument — but about music.”

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Published – February 18, 2026 02:16 pm IST