Over 900 patrons and special guests from the Greater Boston area, all the neighboring New England states and from as far as Florida attended the MITHAS gala fund-raising concert that featured the senior khyal artist, Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj.

Backed by his long-time vocal student, Tripti Mukherjee, tabla players Aditya Banerjee and Nitin Mitta, and harmonium player Madhu Vora, Panditji sang for three and half hours, and kept the full house enthralled.  The staging, decorated by Shobha Shastri of Alankar, set an enchanting mood which delighted the artists and the audience; it looked like many a concert in India, but perhaps even nicer.

Panditji started with a long khyal in rag Shankara which perhaps began a little roughly as he warmed his voice.  Ms. Mukerjee was warm from the beginning, though, and throughout the evening her clear and supremely in tune voice contrasted with the expressive and masculine voice of the lead artist.  A second item in fast tintal also in Shankara was full of spirit and verve.  But the concert was truly in gear when they sang a beautiful song with variations in rag Bahar.  It is interesting that both these rags were centered around high sa, which give the renditions a lot of energy and fire.  The two ni's of this rag were handled with a lot of imagination, and brought rounds of applause from the audience when they were blended with subtlety in ascending and descending runs.  A concluding short item in rag Sughrai, which has the same notes as Bahar, introduced a novel treatment of the note dha, which gave the music even more fresh color.
          
The second half presented a wonderful treatment of the old standard rag Malkauns, which was absolutlely masterful, and held the audience spellbound.  Panditji, by this time, was in splendid voice, and his craft and experience were at the top of his game, which is to present phrase after phrase in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of varying colors.  A soulful concluding item in the light-classical rag Pilu fulfilled the audience's delight in a tasty encore-like number.

Of special note were the two tabla players, Mitta and Banerjee, for they had to match both Panditji's exacting demands and moods while keeping an absolutely synchronized rhythm throughout - superb job befitting a superb concert.

With this grand concert, MITHAS embarked on a journey that will help it reach greater heights. MITHAS' future plan includes expanding on two central goals - Raising a capital fund dedicated to support and nurture appreciation for Indian classical arts in the future generations via special education programs; Expanding the MITHAS Family through the Partners program to serve the South Asian communities better.

In realization of these goals, the MITHAS Grand Patron membership was initiated to coincide with this mega concert and the proceeds were used towards the capital fund. The MITHAS Family and Partners outreach program attracted over 30 south Asian organizations including professional, social and religious groups and over 40 music and dance teachers, quadrupling MITHAS' outreach and paving the way for MITHAS to explore innovative ways to serve our communities better and to inspire the communities and their leaders to support the mission of MITHAS, a win-win for all.
The mega concert exceeded all targets thanks to the tireless efforts put up by the MITHAS Board of Directors and the Executive Committee - http://web.mit.edu/mithas/www/board.html. The logistics on the concert day went with clockwork perfection thanks to the diligent efforts by over 40 volunteers from various student organizations including the MIT based 'Students for Bhopal', Burlington High School and  Phillips Academy Andover, MA.
 
The success of the event wouldn't have been possible without the support of various community partners including Lokvani.com, The India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB), Alankar Decors, AID Boston, Gurjar, ISW, NetSAP Boston, TAGB, CRY, Pratham, Sri Meru Foundation, MIT SAAS, MIT Sangam, IHA, NEMM, Srilakshmi Temple, Peabody Essex Museum, etc. and all the dance and music teachers in the New England area.
 
MITHAS (http://www.mithas.org) presents about 10-12 music concerts every year - both Hindustani and Carnatic. MITHAS is an all-volunteer, fully non-profit organization with zero overhead expenses, and works with the singular goal of preserving, promoting and presenting the richness and grandeur of Indian and South Asian classical arts in the Greater Boston and New England areas.

|