Collaboration is at the heart of Bhairavi’s creative practice.
She has produced acclaimed works in close partnership with local and international artists across disciplines including music, poetry, spoken word, movement, and dance.
Ensembles
Sadas: A Meeting of Cultures
Bhairavi Raman | Nanthesh Sivarajah
Sadas is not only an intracultural union, but also a meeting of two creative individuals and the sum of the artistic influences shaping their practice. They represent a formidable blend of traditional knowledge honed in India, technical mastery and musical boldness.
Through music, Bhairavi (Carnatic/Western violin) and Nanthesh (mridangam/percussion) explore what it means to be Indian- and Sri Lankan-Australian practitioners of classical arts within Melbourne’s musical milieu.
From traditional repertoires to Carnatic-inspired original and experimental works, they converse in a musical language that disrupts pre-existing labels and pushes traditional boundaries.
With more than 100 performances to their names internationally, they are at the forefront of their musical practice. Applying decades of training and expertise, they are skilled in intercultural collaborations, improvised music, and new approaches to composition. Listen to their music here.
Selected Projects
Her Story (2021)
Bindu Rajendran (movement, dance)
A new multi-artform work that brings together spoken word, music, movement and dance to explore the narrative and counter narratives of South Asian women, questioning the social system that ascertains freedom and equality but is often the invisible oppressor in a partiarchal society.
Original work premiered at Sangam Festival 2021
Sample available on request
The Window (2020)
Amrita Hepi (movement, dance), Arjunan Puveendran (vocalist)
A series of digital-dance mini-commissions, pairing a South Asian-Australian dance, sound designer or musician with an artist outside of their medium or training to explore responses to their physical site and inner landscape during COVID-19 in a choreographic experiment that pushes their own training and form.
Original work premiered at Boxed 8.0 Australia Edition
Link to work (watch from 18:54)
Route to Root (2019)
Saurav Moni (India);
Keshav Ram, Nanthesh Sivarajah, Subrat Sitoula, Paras Sitoula
An intracultural collaboration blending folk and classical music traditions of South Asia, in partnership with critically acclaimed Bengali singer, Saurav Moni.
Bhoomi: Woman & Earth (2019)
Arjunan Puveendran, Indu Balachandran, Branavan Jeyarasa (music); Poorvaja Nirmaleswaran, Kersherka Sivakumaran, Seran Sribalan (dance); Shankari Chandran (writing)
An exploration of the feminine and the environment through sacred music, dance, texts and traditions of South Indian heritage.
Original work premiered at Sydney Sacred Music Festival 2021
In Development
So Where Are You From?
Pyrawy Sivarajah (poetry/spoken word), Nanthesh Sivarajah (music/sound) , Rukshikaa Elankumaran (dance/movement)
Exploring the lived experiences of Tamil Australians from the Indian and Sri Lankan Eelam diaspora, focusing on remnants of war, intergenerational trauma and mental illness through Tamil and English poetry/literature, Bharatanatyam, movement and Carnatic music.
Of Stubborn Songs and Unequal Wars
Nithya Nagarajan, Liv Satchell, Marco Cher-Gibard, Vaishnavi Suryaprakash, Zainab Syed, Hilo Mur
An intercultural theatre work and living repository of research about domestic violence, the micro-personal and macro-political landscapes of female bodies, and women’s cultural resistance practices.