Indian Music Society to celebrate silver jubilee

The Indian Music Society of Minnesota would be celebrating its silver jubilee this year, reports Lalit K Jha.

The Indian Music Society of Minnesota would be celebrating its silver jubilee this year. Twenty-five successful years is considered among the art critics in this Minnesota State as an outstanding achievement by an Indian cultural organization for promoting classical music.

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Vocal concerts of ML Vasantakumari and Laxmi Shankar in 1980, in the Twin Cities, laid the foundation stone of the Indian Music Society of Minnesota in a small but unique way - the objective being promotion and portrayal of classical Indian music in this region of the United States

More than 230 musical concerts later featuring legends like Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Amjad Ali Khan, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Birju Maharaj, Pandit Jasraj, Gangubai Hangal and Shubha Mudgal to name the few, the Indian Music Society of Minnesota this year is celebrating its silver jubilee.

"We have not only been successful in bringing the immigrant Indians to our concerts over the years, but also been successful in generating lot of interest among the Americans," the Society president, Ameeta Kelekar, told HindustanTimes.com.

Such has been the interest of the local American citizens about the classical Indian music, that today nearly half of the members -- 45 per cent to be precise -- of the Music Society members are Americans. "This is a remarkable achievement for an organization like us," said Kelekar, who took over the reigns of its president, last year.

"We have been receiving congratulation messages from a large number of prestigious US cultural organizations, for the very fact that we have not only survived but also have been successful in making Indian classical music increasingly popular," she said.

"To our knowledge, we are the first Indian classical music organization in the nation to achieve this," she claimed. At times the concerts organized by the Society attract more than 2,000 people.

The grand Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Music Society, Kelekar said, is scheduled for October 9. "We are planning to get the legendary Laxmi Shankar, who did the inaugural concert for the event. We are also approaching Ustad Zakir Hussein for October 9," she said.

In fact, to celebrate this occasion and to continue the tradition of bringing the very best of the Indian classical music by world-class artists, the Music Society has put together series of fabulous concert series in 2005. About half-a-dozen have already been held so far.

About the accomplishments of the Society over the past 25 years, she said it has played a unique role in enriching the cultural life of the Twin Cities by presenting Indian classical music performances by visiting professional artists of international reputation.

"The Society has presented vocal and instrumental music concerts, dance dramas, lecture/demonstrations and residencies involving over 400 artists," she said.

Over the years, the Society has also become an important educational resource by co-sponsoring events with the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, Saint Cloud State University, and Hamline University, providing an enriching experience for the general audience as well as students of ethnomusicology and world music.

Further, the Society also provides the Indian community (especially the second generation Indians) with opportunities to maintain their cultural heritage. Of late it has also co-sponsored events with other Twin Cities based arts organizations such as Ragamala Dance Theater, Katha Dance Theater, Minnesota Orchestra, University of Minnesota School of Music and SPICMACAY.

Despite the "unprecedented and sustained programming" the Indian Music Society, she said, continues to try find new audiences and new collaborations within the Asian Indian arts community itself and with the community at large.

The annual "Aradhana" festival brings together Indians and others in an innovative way that presents and promotes the strength, popularity and the influence Indian music has on the Asian Indian culture and arts in general.