The sounds of the sitar and tabla will echo in List Art Center this Saturday, when Brown students will join in an exploration of Indian music and culture. Raagmaala, an organization promoting the traditional performing arts of India, will present the musical talents of renowned international performers Sugato Nag and Subhankar Bannerjee.
"These are master musicians," said event coordinator Arun Agrawal. "It's a great honor to be able to bring them here and share their rich cultural heritage. They have performed in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, everywhere. They are not amateurs."
Raagmaala, or "The Garland of Melodies," was established in 1997. The organization tries to put on at least two shows a year for the Providence community, usually around the start of the academic semester. Along with various sitar concerts, Raagmaala has also organized a number of classical music and dance concerts, featuring styles such as Oddissi and Kathak.
Sugato Nag, who also holds a master's degree in Production Engineering, is a sitar maestro. The sitar is a stringed instrument made of gourds and seasoned teak wood. Agrawal described its music as deeply meditative and harmonic.
Nag is a disciple of Pundit Buddhadev Das Gupta, often called the living legend of sarod, a stringed instrument native to Northern India. His compositions combine elements from Dhruypad, Tantrakari and Gayaki styles of music.
Subhankar Banerjee is a world-renowned master percussionist, and will be playing the tabla, a small hand drum from northern India. He has played with musicians such as Shiva Kumar Sharma, Chaurasia, John McLaughlin and Pundit Ravi Shankar.
"We basically do it because we feel we have something very beautiful to share," Agrawal said. "(The music) has meditative qualities, it has pizzazz. It puts a smile on a lot of kids' faces, and that's what gets the job done. That's what motivates Raagmaala to keep doing things."
According to Agrawal, members of the South Asian Students Association are not the only ones who attend Raagmaala concerts. In fact, most who do are not SASA members.
"By design, Brown has students from all over the world, with different ethnic backgrounds and different faiths," Agrawal said. "But music is a nice tool to communicate - everyone likes music." Sitar music is not religious in content, it's a way to bringing different people together to celebrate the beauty of the Indian culture, he added.
The concert is sponsored by Kabob and Curry and the India Museum and Heritage Society. Brown's Department of Religious Studies has provided the venue.
Tickets are available at Kabob and Curry and will be available at the door. They are $7 for students with ID, $17 for the general public, and $30 for two.
