When Bengaluru-based didgeridoo artist Two Eyed Wizard aka Brandon Colaco traveled to France to perform at the Tribal Elek Festival in early August, it was meant to kickstart a hard-earned Europe tour. But there were still a few more hurdles to clear for Colaco.
He says over a phone call, “My luggage came three days late, which means I had my clothes and more importantly my didgeridoo only a few hours before my show. When I went on stage it hit me that I’m not in my country, and it’s a completely new audience. The festival was great, though. The audience was lovely.”
After that, Colaco was greeted with plenty of namastes and love in France, going on to play at the Fatt Festival in Portugal as well as shows in Spain. At Fatt Festival, the artist notes that the lineup featured several other didgeridoo artists, which meant he was performing to a more discerning audience. As Two Eyed Wizard, Colaco not just incorporates elements of dance music, but also singing, konnakol and Indian classical motifs that he says helped clinch a slot at Fatt Festival. “It felt like really empowering and very reassuring to keep playing this instrument,” he says about the Europe debut.
In addition to the performances, Colaco also conducted a konnakol workshop with about 40 to 50 participants, teaching them a korvai that’s essentially a rhythmic composition format within the percussive style. “They all gave up halfway through,” he says with a laugh. Colaco adds, “But then, you know, the thing about facilitating a workshop – I got them to sit there and they all recited it. Towards the end, I was just clapping, and they were reciting this very complex thing, so I think they loved it.”
There was also a sound bath session – a meditative method involving instruments like the didgeridoo – that Colaco says he conducted for a much older audience in Portugal. “All of them in the audience came and hugged me one by one [afterwards]. There were, like, 30 people. I think it was nice for me to show this mystical Indian element along with the digeridoo,” he adds.
After returning to India, there have been more sound bath (as well as breathwork) sessions in and around Bengaluru and in Goa, where Colaco plans to move. After seeing the way festivals and communities have been created around didgeridoo on his Europe tour, Colaco hopes to do the same in India as well. He performs next at the Sunday Sundowner in Bengaluru venue Sly Granny on Nov. 17. “I feel very confident now, after coming back at least about my set and my skill, and I have two, three entries for festivals in India for the December season, but talks are going on,” Colaco says.
From Rolling Stone India
