Renowned Mumbai-based drummer and music composer Ranjit Barot, who has been an exponent of the percussion, has seen a huge change in the way the section of music has evolved over the last four decades since he has been active in the music industry. While India boasts of many percussionists, he believes past efforts to bring them all on one stage to celebrate percussion music has largely been affected by the lack of sponsorship and vision. 

In a time when there are so many different festivals cropping up catering to different kinds of genres, music lovers can admit it is hard to find one that is solely dedicated to percussion which visibly plays an important role in aiding breathtaking music and at the same time capable of delivering standalone mind-blowing solos. It is not like past efforts haven’t been made but none have been able to stick around, according to Barot. He explains, “There have been other efforts to organise music festivals in the past, such as the one called ‘Dumru’ that used to take place in Pune.” So, when the percussionist, who has collaborated with some of the best names in Indian music including AR Rahman and Ustad Zakir Hussain, got the chance to play at the Mahindra Percussion Festival, he jumped at the opportunity.