Pride Month: Mad Parrot celebrates Hyderabad’s Indie music scene

Hyderabad: On Sunday, Mad Parrot organised its fourth edition at The Moonshine Project. Returning from a break, the dynamic team rekindled Mad Parrot’s excitement in time for Pride Month’s celebrations.

Approximately seven years ago, jazz artist and illustrator Pranati Khanna from Hyderabad set out to promote the city’s independent music scene and highlight their songwriting in just one afternoon of hanging out.

Together with Abbas Razvi, the bassist of the local metal band Godless, they created Mad Parrot, a lively cultural production that personifies Hyderabad’s alternative culture. The event would fly beyond the confines of a convention by drawing inspiration from Pranati’s pet parrot, a sign of brilliant hues and untamed passion.

This year, the event is a potent representation of inclusion and unity, elevating the voices of artists from all backgrounds since pride is a personal flair, where everyone can witness an event that attracts both artists and art aficionados, as well as the regime of communal innovation.

“Mad Parrot is a representation of the inventive energy that lives inside every one of us. New activities, innovative partnerships, and an ongoing dedication to supporting the indie music scene have been featured in each issue. Mad Parrot has embraced all sounds beneath its brilliant canopy, from the heartfelt melodies of singer-songwriters to the thunderous boom of rock and the defiant rhymes of hip-hop,” explained Pranati.

However, its transformative soul extends beyond music. The space will intertwine with the art of tattooing, curated by Amin Sultan Hajiani, renowned for his tattoo studio at Sindhi Colony.

“Mad Parrot is all about therapy of different kinds. Getting tattooed is therapeutic for those who want to externalise what they feel inside and wear their truth,” Pranati told NewsMeter.

The multi-practice art coverage investigates the countless ramifications of alternative culture in the following ways: the group’s celebration of skateboarding, an activity that embodies the spirit of independence, self-expression, and tenacity, as well as its admiration of vinyl are examples of kinetic poetry.

In this subversive haven, eccentricities are cherished and differences are embraced as the unseen become seen. Like jigsaw pieces that won’t fit into the set shape of conventional conventions, it celebrates the outcast, the quirky, and the avant-garde.

“Hyderabad is accomplishing artistic diversity with conviction,” claimed Patruni Chidananda Sastry, an expressionist dancer and drag performer based in the city who is emcee-ing the event.

“The independent music and pop artists in the city have influenced me. The realm of music and inclusion go hand in hand, with artists being out about their queerness or being our allies. Making this music festival inclusive of queer people was a much-needed notion. One of the first festivals to that care for mental health issues and inclusiveness and diversity are given high emphasis,” they added.

The event included New Delhi act Kraken, metal bands like Godless and Hostilian, singer-songwriters like Sidharth Bendi, Niteesh, Priyanka Nath, and pop artist Peekay. Rock groups including So Much to Carry and the Songsmiths, as well as the multi-instrumentalist producer Vibefixx, the hip-hop ensemble Rival Mob, and rapper Nio Endo, are all part of the roster.

Bringing back Mad Parrot, according to the organisers, was also important for showcasing independent music in Hyderabad at a time when Telugu cover bands, Bollywood performers, tribute concerts, and EDM musicians are dominating the live music scene. Infinity Pro Audio, which manufactures live concert equipment, is headed by Razvi.

“On a weekend, we have at least 50 to 60 bands playing,” he claimed. According to Razvi, because so few musicians perform their own music, even places like EXT eventually run out of new acts to schedule.

Khanna and Razvi note that prior iterations of Mad Parrot introduced Hyderabad to then-emerging acts like Chennai’s The F16s and Mumbai’s The Family Cheese despite summoning Kraken.

“People learn about that (out of town) band and fall in love with them, which may lead to further opportunities for them to perform in the city. With this, we’re aiming for a similar outcome,” Razvi added.

The entire Moonshine Project location is being taken over by Mad Parrot, who is also performing live graffiti and using their basement as a different stage. Additionally, he said, “We turned it into a little skatepark with a ramp.”

In addition, the event saw a lot of tattoo artists’ rap cyphers, fashion and print stalls, and other events. For the first time, Godless will have graphics synchronised with their performance. Khanna claimed that she would perform Peekay’s next album in its full at Mad Parrot as she returns to the pop-rock genre.

Although Mad Parrot used to be an annual concert series, Khanna says that the current edition has been quite ‘trial and error’ in terms of funding and planning. “I would love to do Mad Parrot in other cities and dig into the lesser-known, talented acts from those places,” she concluded.