INVC,,
Delhi,,
Ministry of Culture organized a historic meeting of eminent musicians from both the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions of classical music, under the aegis of All India Musicians Group (AIMG), with the Prime Minister (who is also Minister for Culture) Dr. Manmohan Singh here today.
The delegation represented the finest exponents of Indian classical tradition, especially the musical one. The AIMG members present at the meeting were Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Zakir Husain, Pt. Rajan Mishra, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (All North Indian (Hindustani) Music) Shri Ravikiran Chitravina, Shri T N Krishnan, Smt Sudha Raghunathan and Shri U Shrinivas (All South Indian (Carnatic) Music). Pt. Arvind Parikh participated in the meeting as Convener and Pt Vijay Kichlu – Kolkata, Pt. Sajan Mishra – Delhi, Shri Ashok Vajpeyi – Delhi as Observers.
During the meeting AIMG raised a number of issues. These covered the Guru Shishya parampara, the revitalization of state and other akademies, the need to inject public sector and corporate funds for the classical arts; the possibility of a dedicated TV channel for the classical arts; re-emphasizing of music education in schools and developing a national repository of the performing arts of India.
The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his response to the issues raised by members of the AIMG said that he recognized their contribution to taking forward the cultural heritage of India. He stated that it was necessary to have in place adequate institutional arrangements to support these arts. He mentioned that classical arts are the soul of India and their presence reminds us all of the great cultural and civilizational tradition of India. PM agreed with the delegation that India’s emergence as an economic power could only be completed when our country’s profile adequately reflects our ‘soft power’ as reflected by our achievements in the cultural field. He also said that funding of the projects suggested by the AIMG should not normally be a problem and he looked forward to another meeting with the Group, after some work has been done on their suggestions.
