CRA’P Presentations – Talks 2025
The KALARIGRAM centre in Auroville, India, returns to CRA’P with its founder Lakshman Gurukkal, one of the most renowned Kalari masters today. With him, between 4 and 24 October, we will immerse ourselves in this ancient tradition and its legacy with a series of activities related to Kalaripayattu, a millennial tradition of knowledge and practices in martial arts, health and spirituality.
THE TRADITION OF RHYTHM IN INDIA
MEETING WITH LAKSHMAN GURUKKAL AND JORDI RALLO
5 October
11h to 18h at CRA’P (Mollet del Vallès)
This event offers a dialogue with Kalaripayattu master Lakshman Gurukkal and percussionist Jordi Rallo. Rhythm is the meeting point. There will be demonstrations of Kalari by Esther Freixa and regular CRA’P practitioners, accompanied by Jordi Rallo’s music, where we will be able to see the musical convergence of the tempo and cadence of the movements with the rhythm of the percussion.
Jordi will talk about what it means to learn an instrument such as the tabla in India, and Lakshman will discuss the foundations of Kalaripayattu and its relationship with the arts, health and spirituality. There will also be a concert, and rituals from Sri Vidya Tantra.
This event is open to anyone interested.
With Lakshman Gurukkal and Jordi Rallo
Fee: 50€ meal included (40€ collaborators of Cra’p) / 30€ half day (25€ collaborators of Cra’p)
Registration: info@cra-p.org / +34 666 763 504
Jordi Rallo studied tablas with the master Uttam-das in Rishikesh (India). Darbouka at the Traditional Music Centre Studies; and with a scholarship he furthered his knowledge at the Kalakchetra School of Fine Arts in Madras (India). Over the last 40 years he has been introducing these instruments into different genres. This experience with other musicians, poets, actors and dancers has led him to expand and build up a set of percussion instruments: Tablas – Dabouka – Tambourines – Kanjira – Uddus – Cajon – Gongs – Samplers, etc.
Lakshman Gurukkal is one of the few rare and revered Gurus of Kalaripayattu, Ayurveda and Tantra. Following the tradition of family lineage, he had started learning Kalaripayattu at the tender age of 5 under the tutelage of his father Guru Veerasree Sami Gurukkal. In his growing years, he also learnt from his father the art and science of Ayurveda. He has been awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, with the title of Senior Fellowship (in Kalaripayattu and Natyashastra). He has a post graduate degree in Advaita Vedanta from Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, at Deemed University under the Ministry of Human Resource Development in New Delhi. He worked as a Lecturer in Martial Arts at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala. He is the director of Hindustan Kalari Sangam, the family centre in Calicut, Kerala. In 2010 he founded Kalarigram in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, an international research centre on the applications of Kalari for empowering the younger generations with the core principles of the ancient wisdom and its tools to develop an engaged and responsible human being.
The Kalarigram centre is based in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India. It is structured as a holistic Kalari gurukulam, and was founded by Lakshman Gurukkal in 2010. It trains artists from all over the world. Kalarigram’s visit aims at imparting traditional Indian wisdom of body-mind training, performing arts and spiritual practice.