Saarang: A space to experience Indian Music

In the meantime, the symbol of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of education and music, was chosen to highlight the art adorning the festival brochures and banners. It turned out that January 24 was Saraswati Puja. Another synchronicity: the closing ceremony will coincide with the closing day of the upcoming Auroville Retreat, and Dr. Karan Singh, mentioned within the panels of the exhibition by renowned musician Shiv Kumar Sharma, will be invited to attend the final concert.

These few moments have been the magic in the months of planning and preparation for the exhibition-event. It marks the second such event in the past year, the first being the Tribute to Kerala last fall. As India Space wants to explore the essence of unity of India through all its diversity, music seemed like a good starting point. So this time, the India Space Team, consisting of Aster, Shilpa, Tapas, and Anu, decided to showcase the instruments and music taught, played, and loved across religious and regional divides in India. But they didn’t want it just to be an exhibition. They wanted to create a space into which one would enter and experience something.

One of their first ways of attempting this was to exhibit musical instruments from both the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions of Indian classical music. Individuals and art centres generously came forward to loan over 45 musical instruments. One man brought a drum played only by Dalits. Another rarity is a five-headed drum from Kerala, “Panch Mukha Mizhavu,” which is so old that no one knows how to play it anymore. As the exhibition began to take shape, it seemed something was missing, as it did not show the process of creation of the various pieces. So the team created a corner of India Space where one can see how an instrument is created, such as in the villages of India. Two tall pieces of bamboo tower over a workshop table, and as you look closely, you can observe the process that bamboo undergoes to become a flute.

So many instruments in one space are an open invitation to pick them up and play. But the team took this into account and there is a table full of instruments that you can practice on.

It doesn’t stop there. The event portion of Saarang features concerts and workshops that have been running continuously since January and will end in March. This has included a sitar performance, talks on Carnatic and Hindustani music, interactive workshops on the tabla, and more.

This integrated experience, more an “educational exploration” than an exhibition, says Shilpa, has drawn in crowds. While they expected 40 people to attend the inauguration, over 200 showed up. Every day there is a stream of visitors from Auroville and the outside, and 80 people attended the most recent workshop. School groups come from Pondicherry and Auroville to see the wide variety of musical instruments on display. “The response has been unexpected, but very fulfilling,” says Anu. “Many people comment on the atmosphere here.”

It is this atmosphere that continues to draw people to the centre of the Bharat Nivas for the Saarang exhibition. And this echoes the larger goal of India Space: to create a central core in Bharat Nivas in which to explore the theme of Unity in Diversity. There are future plans to conduct guided walking tours around the campus, but India Space hopes to serve as a central starting point in that journey.

A recent article in Auroville Today noted that Bharat Nivas seems a little empty these days. Saarang seems to be changing that. Not only is it increasing the number of visitors to the site, but it is furthering connections between Auroville and the larger art scene in India. “Artists are excited to come to Auroville to perform; they know Auroville,” said Anu. “We like to connect with artists who connect inwardly with Auroville.”

Working with such artists and creating such experiences for the people who visit continues to take time. “For the team, and for the people who come to visit, it’s a totally different path we’re walking,” says Aster. “The experience is multi-dimensional. That’s also India. You can live it at so many levels. And that’s Auroville too. To walk into a space and experience it is, to me, real creativity.”

As of now, the India Space team plans to host two exhibition-events per year, though they are keeping quiet about what’s next in store. “What is happening here now,” says Aster, “is that we’re working to create new forms for an ancient energy. And that’s why the challenge of the new creation is so difficult.”