Earthlore Fellowship 2026 Kicked Off In June 2nd Week!
"Through my art and music, I want to give back to my community. So before the fellowship ends, my dream is to create something that I can take back home." - Rakesh E R (Earthlore Fellow 2026)
On June 5th, 2026, the second cohort of the Earthlore Fellowship stepped into Lovedale Villa, Mananthavady, Wayanad. Coming from diverse communities, regions, and musical traditions, many of the fellows were meeting each other for the very first time. Yet, the very first day, those differences did not matter because the shared language was music.
Over the next twelve days, the space came alive with cross-cultural exchange, creative exploration, and collaborative music-making. It was inspiring to witness new friendships form, ideas flow across traditions, and a vibrant community emerge through the shared experience of creating music together.
What’s Earthlore Fellowship?
One of our most important projects, The Earthlore Fellowship is a nine-month music programme supported by Tata Trusts, that brings together practitioners of traditional and contemporary music from across India for creative collaboration. Each month, fellows come together for a 12-day intensive residential of learning, collaborating and performing together.
The fellowship grew out of ARPO's Earthlore project, when we spent years in the field documenting the music, instruments, and living traditions of tribal communities across Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The fellowship was born out of the community’s request for a collaborative initiative so that traditions are not just documented but brought into active conversation with today. Supported by Tata Trusts, the Earthlore Fellowship began in April, 2025.
Twenty Fellows From Across South Asia
This year, we have voices from across Kerala, Indore, Nilgiris, Kolkata and Nepal. And on day 1, we felt the excitement of being in a room where people come from lands with diverse histories, culture, and contexts. Just the fact that shared knowledge about a wide range of instruments like the ones we’re going to list now shows how music threads communities, languages and stories. Thudi, Thakilu, Djembe, Dholak, Khadtal, Khamak, Ghatam and more are not just musical tools. They are knowledge systems, passed down through communities as a way of understanding and expressing life on that land. A few fellows also bring contemporary music backgrounds with knowledge of drums, keyboard, guitar.
Key Moments from the First Month
The first music sessions, led by musicians Charu Hariharan and Sreekanth Hariharan, started with focusing on one’s breath. Fellows were introduced to the fundamentals of voice like breathing, phonation, and resonance and the relationship between the three. From there, the sessions moved into finding each person's natural volume, working with vowels, and understanding how vowel transitions change the quality of sound. A 10-minute morning practice routine was set from day one, to be done before any session began.
"Can I sing because I haven't professionally learnt music?" I had inhibitions like these before coming for this fellowship. But I'm sure I'll overcome those during the fellowship. - Gokri (Earthlore Fellow 2026)
Mid-way through the fellowship, the fellows were grouped by interest; percussion or singing and given focused time with instruments. The percussion group was introduced to the Cajon: its origins, its construction, the snare strings inside it, and its three basic strokes. Shakers followed. When the two groups came back together, they performed. Instruments on stage included Cajon, Thudi, shakers, tambourine, and Khartaal. Sreekanth added harmony for the singers. The first group performance of the fellowship, the fellows were excited to be on stage as a group. Later, the full group was divided into teams of six and given 45 to 60 minutes to learn about a new instrument covering names, origins, materials, and hands-on time. The learning was then shared across groups so that everyone left with at least a working familiarity with each instrument.
We also screened two documentaries; one was Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart (2008), BIATE- The Forgotten Songs and a video of live performance by Sona Jobarteh & Band: Kora Music from West Africa. Group activities focused on cross-cultural understanding were built into the schedule.
Theatre sessions with Ajithlal from Space of Act, sound engineering sessions with Vishnu Namboothiri, a guitar class with Antony, and a closing group discussion led by Leela Santhosh rounded out the twelve days.
What Lies Ahead
One of the most important moments came when fellows from the 2025 cohort returned to perform in front of the 2026 cohort. For the new batch, it was a glimpse into what nine months of learning, collaboration, and friendship can evolve into.
As the second cohort settles into the journey ahead, we're excited to see where these conversations, collaborations, and musical experiments lead.
Watch out our social media page for more updates from the Earthlore Fellowship throughout the year.
