Playground
Where modular meets Carnatic. Charu Hariharan and Vaibhav Batra in a live improvised performance.
Created, conceptualised and produced by W.I.P Labs.

It is not a fusion. It is a conversation. Playground is a live improvised performance at the meeting point of two distant sonic worlds: South Indian classical percussion and Carnatic vocalism on one side, and the voltage-driven terrain of modular synthesis on the other.
Neither artist moves toward the other's tradition to make the meeting easier. Charu Hariharan brings Carnatic music fully intact, its rhythmic sophistication and ornamental vocabulary. Vaibhav Batra brings a modular synthesiser that must be built anew before every performance. What emerges is not a middle ground but a third space that neither could occupy alone.
A playground is not a concert hall. It is a space for exploration rather than exhibition, where the point is the playing. Every set is a real-time discovery, and the audience witnesses the whole process of finding out.
- Duration
- 45 to 60 minutes, no interval
- On stage
- 2 artists, minimal staging
- Audience
- Seated or on the floor, close to the artists
- Language
- Non-verbal and Carnatic syllables
- Premiere
- W.I.P alt.FEST, December 2024
Reels
Who makes it
Charu Hariharan
Carnatic percussion and vocals
Vaibhav Batra
Modular synthesis
Photographs









Performed at
- Dec 2024World premiere, W.I.P alt.FESTBengaluru
- 2025OddBird Theatre, two runsNew Delhi
- Jan 2026Kochi-Muziris BiennaleKochi