The weekend of October 19 made it clear that Indian Classical music is alive and well in the Boston area. Learnquest Academy, a school committed to the propagation of Indian Classical music in the Boston area sponsored two concerts (Hindustani and Carnatic) featuring local artists and it was a pleasure to see such talent existing in New England.

Autumn Mist, a Hindustani music concert featuring Khayals, Ghazals and Geets by Dr. Sadhana Upadhayay was held at the Thoreau School in Concord, MA. The concert was unique in many ways. Sadhana has received training in Hindustani music from Besant College, and Banaras University, under the guidance of the late Pt. M.K. Samant, and Pt. M.V. Kalvint. But she had not performed for many years, busy as she was with raising a family and pursuing a career as a professional psychologist. Recently she decided to pick up where she left off and actually prepared and presented an evening of music. This is not an easy task by any means and requires a lot of commitment. Our sincere congratulations on a job well done. Her concert served as an inspiration to other artists whose life or career often leads them away from the arts. Sadhana is a long time Concord resident and is active in the state and local Democratic Parties and has always been emphasizing her Indian-American identity. The concert was certainly a tribute to that identity. It featured two great American-Indian musicians from the Boston area, Dr.George Ruckert and Phil Kaplan. Accompanying those senior artists was young Naveen Goela who impressed the audience with his superb accompaniment. Naveen Goela who grew up in the Andover area, is currently a senior at MIT. He learnt Tabla from the New England Tabla maestros Ajit Nagral and Nishikant Solwalkar. He recently went to Berkeley and received advanced training from the world-renowned Tabla maestro Pt. Swapan Chaudhary. It made me feel proud to see such a talent that has grown in this very New England soil.

Another special experience was a Veena concert by Mrs R. Ramani which was held at Learnquest Academy. Mrs R. Ramani is a retired A grade staff artist from AIR radio. She was accompanied on the Mridangam by New England Mridangam vidwan Shri Pravin Sitaram. It is always a pleasure to listen to senior artists who bring a depth of understanding, experience and passion for music. I was extremely taken with the sincerity with which she played. There were leading New England musicians in the audience including, Pradeep Shukla (founder of Learnquest), Veena artists, Smt Durga Krishanan, Smt Lakshmi Venkat, Shri Ram Naidoo and others. Her playing technique was smooth. She was able to express the appropriate Bhava of the various compositions, which is a key element in Carnatic music. She was able to bring out the beauty of wonderful creations like "Enna Thavam Chaidanai(Kapi)", "Venkatachalam Nilayam(Sindhubhairavii)" , "Charanam, (Chenchuruti) and others. Pravin Sitaram's accompaniment was controlled and provided the right support for the concert. I enjoyed the Thani very much. All in all it was a very special and satisfying experience.

The organizers were lamenting the fact that the audience for classical music concerts is not as large as they would like it. I think the reason for this is that people with the knowledge and interest in this music are limited and they can only attend so many concerts. But I came back quite pleased with the knowledge that organizations like Learnquest with all their music faculty and other private teachers are teaching classical music to so many children. This will surely increase the interest base for this music and we hope as time goes by the Indian American children will flock to such concerts. Artists like Naveen Goela make me feel secure about the future of Indian Classical music. So while MITHAS brings us the big-ticket concerts, Learnquest provides us the opportunity for wonderful chamber music concerts. Both go a long way in ensuring the health of Classical music in the Boston area.

Classical music and dance is a guaranteed and beautiful way of keeping all of us firmly connected and rooted in our culture. I urge all to find at least a couple of Indian classical music or dance concerts a year that you can go to with your children for it is a most special thing you can do for yourself and your child.

To find out more about Learnquest please call 781.891.8535

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