College students crazy about ragas

When it was launched 36 years back, few would have thought a bunch of teenyboppers (term used in hindsight) of St Xavier’s College would be interested in Indian classical music, leave alone promoting it.

The effort — branded Indian Music Group (IMG) — has thrived to become a torchbearer for keeping the ragas alive, in the midst of hiphop, rock, rap and Bollywood medleys.

The baithak-concerts — often open air in the quadrangle — under the aegis of IMG have translated into a bank of over 2,000 hours of live recordings of both Hindustani and Carnatic music that can be accessed by students and outsiders alike.

Apart from the rare music records of the artists of the yesteryears and today, the IMG also houses over 200 books exclusively on Indian classical music.

The group was started in St Xavier’s College in 1973 with the support of music maestros, the late Ustad Alla Rakha Khan and Zakir Hussain, and now has over 1,000 members comprising young students and music patrons from across the city.

To help increase this following of Indian classical music, the IMG organises monthly baithaks and yearly music concerts. Till today, veterans like Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and modern-day figures like Shubha Mudgal, Shankar Mahadevan have performed for the IMG.

“Our aim is to create awareness and interest in our music. Therefore, the baithaks are free of cost while the Jan Fest concert seats start from a nominal cost of Rs50,” said Anuradha Handikar, a committee member of the IMG.

“We audition young artistes and provide them with a platform through the Young Artistes Festival,” she added.

“Witnessing such fine artistes perform live has turned me into an avid fan of classical music,” said Tamara Merchant who has been following the IMG since the last 13 years. “The IMG inspired my interest in the dhrupad genre of music. I used to play flute during my college years and would spend hours at the IMG music library listening to music,” said Neil Dixhit, an ex-student of St Andrew’s College.

“One can just immerse oneself in the music here. We dedicate every day to a different artiste and play his/ her music in the library,” said Ameya Bhangle, a FYBSc student and general secretary of the IMG.

To introduce people to classical music, a three-day music appreciation course is being
organised by the IMG in November.