Katatonia, Sudha Ragunathan and Vineeth to headline Saarang 2017

Saarang, the annual event of IIT Madras presents a Rock Show by Katatonia and Classical Night by Sudha Ragunathan and Vineeth

Rock Show

Swedish metal band Katatonia will be taking the Rock Show stage at Saarang 2016. Previous editions have seen crowds of over 6000 rocked by the likes of Opeth, Karnivool and Parikrama.

Katatonia’s story began in earnest 25 years ago when Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström first joined forces to explore the limitless possibilities of the then burgeoning doom and death metal scenes. Bands like Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride were standard bearers for British melancholy, but Peaceville label mates Katatonia swiftly established themselves as Sweden’s idiosyncratic equivalent, releasing their debut album Dance Of December Souls at the end of 1993 and receiving immediate acclaim within the metal underground. With a sound that was both familiar and startlingly fresh, Katatonia’s early works exhibited plenty of the elegance and subtlety that would later typify the band’s work.

With countless lauded live shows and festival appearances, the band’s status as one of heavy music’s most revered acts was etched in stone by the time the 21st century truly kicked into gear. 2003’s Viva Emptiness and 2006’s The Great Cold Distance were, as Renkse and Nyström further refined their mercurial songwriting talents. As the notion of progressive music began to exert its allure over open-minded music fans to a degree that it manifestly hadn’t since the early 70s, Katatonia were perfectly positioned to benefit. As their audience and appeal broadened, they began to make ever more adventurous and absorbing music, hitting a dizzying peak with 2009’s Night Is The New Day, an album widely hailed as a masterpiece. Continuing on that triumphant path and maintaining that rich vein of form, both 2012’s Dead End Kings and its delicate, re-imagined counterpart Dethroned & Uncrowned a year later inspired praise and plaudits galore. Whether dismantling and reconstructing their metal roots or diving into more ethereal sonic waters, Katatonia have been on a creative roll for more than two decades.

Fast-forward to 2016 and the band are poised to release what may well prove to be their most affecting and powerful album to date. The Fall of Hearts is Katatonia’s tenth studio album; a remarkable achievement in itself, but the sheer quality and consistency of the band’s music remains their most striking trait.

Katatonia will perform at the Rock Show, Saarang 2017 at Open Air Theater, IIT Madras, Chennai on January 7th, 2017.

Tickets available at - www.bookmyshow.com/chennai/events/rock-show-saarang-2017/ET00046915

Classical Night

Sudha Ragunathan is a Carnatic Vocalist from Tamil Nadu. She has received multiple prestigious awards including Padma Bhushan and Sangita Kalanidhi Awards. Sudha has performed a range of concerts and festivals worldwide, and has released over 200 albums with leading recording companies like AVM, INRECO, Vani and Amutham. She is a top ranking artist for Prasar Bharati, All India Radio, and the Doordarshan. She has recently performed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to commemorate International Non-Violence Day.

Vineeth is a south Indian film actor and a classical dancer known mainly for his works in Malayalam and Tamil films. Some of his notable films include Chandramukhi, Kadhal Desam, May Maadham, Gentleman and Bhool Bhulaiyaa. He has performed in the prestigious Soorya Festival in Thiruvananthapuram and the renowned Bharat Kalachar in Chennai. He was conferred the title ‘Kalaimamani’ by the Tamil Nadu Government in 2007.

Sudha Ragunathan and Vineeth will perform at the Classical Night, Saarang 2017 at Open Air Theater, IIT Madras, Chennai on January 4th, 2017, 6 pm onwards.

More info at saarang.org

Edited by - Debjani Hazarika