UCLA sets up 'chair' for Indian Music

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UCLA sets up 'chair' for Indian Music

Vandana Ramnani (PTI)Washington, October 3, 2005

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Consolidating the nearly 50-year-old tradition of Indian music teaching at the

University of California, an 'endowed chair in Indian Music' with a pledge of

$1 million was set up here to mark Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.

The chair was inaugurated at a concert featuring sitar maestro Shujaat Khan,

accompanied by Abhiman Kaushal on the tabla. The duo started with 'aheer

bhairavi' and finished off with the Father of the Nation's favourite 'Vaishnav

Jana...' in raga 'alihal belawal'. Khan is the son of the legendary Vilayat

Khan and has been teaching the sitar at the University since 1996.

The Sambhi Chair, part of the School of Arts and Architecture at the University

of California (UCLA) seeks to ensure that the study of Indian music will

continue at the UCLA and support teaching and research activities of a

distinguished faculty member by underwriting graduate students and

post-doctoral fellows.

"Dr Sambhi's pledge - to my knowledge is the largest ever private gift for

Indian music study to a university and has enormous value for the field of

ethnomusicology, which has for a half century championed the teaching of Indian

music, as well as other musical traditions from around the world, in American

universities," Daniel Neuman, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of UCLA and

a scholar of Indian music, said.

"It is gratifying that I can honour my wife with a gift that will ensure that

the study of Indian musical culture will continue to be supported at UCLA,"

said Sambhi, who was born in Ludhiana and came to the US in 1953.

"Besides UCLA is my alma mater and South California has the largest segment of

the Indian American community," he said.

Others present on the occasion included Deputy Chief of Mission, Indian Embassy,

Washington, Raminder Jassal, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Director of the recently

opened Centre for India and South Asia and part of the UCLA International

Institute, Harihar Rao of Music Circle and director of the Indian Studies Group

at the Institute of Ethnomusicology from 1960-1966 among others.

The Sambhi Chair forms part of UCLA's ensuing Academic Excellence Initiative, a

five-year effort aimed at generating $250 million in private commitments

specifically for the recruitment and retention of the very best faculty and

graduate students.

The initiative was launched in June 2004. Its goals include $100 million to fund

100 new endowed chairs for faculty across campus, increasing the number to 331.

In addition, campus officials plan to increase support for an estimated 3,500

graduate students per year by raising $100 million to fund fellowships and

scholarships in the UCLA College and $50 million for fellowships and

scholarships in UCLA's 11 professional schools.

The Institute of Ethnomusicology, comparative study of world music, was

established in 1960 by the pioneer in the field Mantle Hood. It was under his

visionary leadership that the study of Indian music was developed within the

institute.

The earliest teacher of Indian music at UCLA was D. Vishwanathan from South India.

>From 1961 to 1966 Harihar Rao - a former student of Ravi Shankar served as

director of the Indian Studies Group in the Institute. He taught sitar and

tabla.

Rao also worked with local jazz musicians, including Don Ellis, to exchange

Indian rhythmic ideas. In 1962 Mantle Hood brought in South Indian artist

Gayathri Rajapur -- a vocalist and a Gottuvadyam player -- who taught in the

music department from 1964 to 1965.

In 1975, Nazir Jairazbhoy was appointed a professor in the Department of Music.

>From that year until his retirement in 1994 he taught courses on folk and

classical music of India, musical cultures of Asia, field and laboratory

methods.

He also served as director of the Music of India performance ensemble-developed

out of the Indian Studies Group which included sitar and tabla instruction.

During this 20-year period a number of Indian artists came to UCLA for brief

residencies, among them master sitar player Imrat Khan of the Imdad Khan

gharana (tradition). His brother, Vilayat Khan, came to UCLA for a two-week

residency.

The Institute of Ethnomusicology was closed in 1975. In 1989 the Department of

Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology was formed as an independent

department with professor Jairazbhoy serving as its first chair. Shujaat Khan

has been teaching the sitar at the institute since 1996. In 1998 he was joined

by joined by Abhiman Kaushal who teaches tabla. They are both co-directors of

the Music Of India Ensemble.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1507618,001600060001.htm