The Mara! Big Band is a 12-piece ensemble that straddles the Eastern European gypsy brass band and jazz big band traditions. It is a kaleidoscope of musical colours including brass, piano accordion, percussion and voice.

Created and directed by Sandy Evans 150 years after Gandhi’s birth, Ahimsa fuses jazz, Hindustani and Carnatic chant with contemporary electronic sounds. Each of the movements is a musical response to a fundamental idea from Gandhi’s writings on Ahimsa (non-violence), translated into Sanskrit by Chris Whiteman and Vasudevacharya, and sung by the charismatic Sriranganathan.