The IIT Madras (IITM) hosted the 9th International Convention of SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music & Culture Amongst Youth) from 20 to 26 May 2024 in their lush green campus.

An initiative of Kiran Seth, the Emeritus Professor of IIT Delhi, SPIC MACAY was heralded as a mission in the 1970s to spread traditional Indian values among the younger generation who were being attracted to Western ways. Kiran Seth wanted to let young students of schools and colleges savour the abstract and subtle elements of Indian classical music and culture and imbibe the inspiring values they carry. The movement started at the IIT Delhi auditorium with just six students attending the first dhrupad concert by the Dagar Brothers. It has now emerged as a vata-vriksha, a banyan tree spreading its branches across hundreds of chapters in the country and abroad.

SPIC MACAY has come a long way, with hundreds of volunteers working enthusiastically to organise nearly 5,000 programmes annually in schools and colleges to inculcate the values of our classical and folk arts and crafts. The annual intercon is a flagship event of SPIC MACAY organised at various IIT and IIM institutions to accommodate and cater to a large number of participants.

The 9th Intercon transformed the IITM campus into a serene ashram. Each day began at 4 am with Hatha Yoga and Naad Yoga sadhana. Mornings were filled with intensive workshops in Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Mohini Attam, Sattriya, and Chhau. The event also offered sessions in theatre, puppetry, and various visual arts and crafts, including Tikuli Chaitrakala from Bihar, Mughal and Miniature paintings from Rajasthan, Madhubani paintings from Mithila, and Kalamkari from Shrikalahasti.

The afternoon sessions featured classic film screenings followed by discussions, folk music and dance, devotional music like Gurbani and Baul-Gaan, Qawwali, and shows like theatre and puppetry. The evening concerts of classical music and dance featured some of the greatest stalwarts in various musical and dance forms. The week-long convention concluded with an overnight concert that lasted from dusk to dawn, showcasing performances like a sonorous sarod recital by Amjad Ali Khan, Carnatic vocal by Sudha Raghunathan, Hindustani vocal by Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, and KalyanSaugandhikam in Koodiyattam by Margi Madhu. The nightlong festival and the 9th Intercon concluded with a serene, meditative dhrupad recital by Wasifuddin Dagar.

The inaugural ceremony in the morning opened with the auspicious nagaswaram by Sheshampatti Sivalingam. The screening of the film Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough, was followed by a discussion with A. Annamalai, Director, Gandhi Museum, Delhi.

The formal inauguration in the evening featured a traditional Tamil welcome with Siva Kombu Vathiyam given to the Chief Guest N. Indrasen Reddy, Governor of Tripura, and maestro Ilayaraja, who both formally inaugurated the 9th International Convention in the presence of Prof. N. Kamakoti, Director of IITM, R.N. Tiwari, National Chairman representing SPIC MACAY, and Kiran Seth.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras also signed a MoU with music director and composer Ilayaraja to establish the ‘IITM - Maestro Ilayaraja Centre for Music Learning and Research’ on this occasion. Prof. Kamakoti emphasised the significant role of technology in music composition and the need for innovation to raise awareness of cultural heritage. He announced that the centre at IIT Madras will integrate music and technology, making it the first IIT in the country to do so.

The official inauguration of the 9th Intercon was followed by the inaugural concert featuring dancer Padma Subrahmanyam and maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia. Dressed in a green and gold costume, Padma Subrahmanyam’s lyrical Bharatanrityam, deeply ingrained in bhakti, had flashes of inner stillness, tranquillity, and abhinaya. Her stage presence and deep involvement are the hallmarks of her style. Accompanied by a live orchestra with Guru Bharadwaaj on mridangam, Kannan Balakrishnan on veena, and Gayatri and Radhika on vocals, she opened her performance with Siddhi Vinayakam seveham, her own composition in raga Mohanakalyani, where she enacted the story of little Vinayaka swallowing the Maha Vishnu chakra. Denying all his pleadings to give it back until Vishnu performs thoppukaranam by catching both his ears with crossed hands, sitting, and getting up many times. Naughty Ganesa was in splits of laughter after returning the gulped chakra to Vishnu.

With examples from Rama-Katha, her next piece featured keertanam by Valmiki, Smaranam by Seeta, Sevanam by Bharata, Archanam by Shabari, Sakhyam by Sugriva, Dasyam by Lakshman, and AatmaNivedanam by the example of Jatayu. Kanaka Dasa’s padam Baro Krishnaiya was a devotional pleading for Krishna to visit the home of his devotee. The concluding folk dance Karagam for Goddess Mariyamman had the priest playing the drum, the devotees dancing with neem leaves, balancing a pot on their heads, and getting into a trance with the increasing tempo. Padma’s dance personified vivaciousness and poise together. Maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia’s flute spins a web of melody, enrapturing the entire cosmos. He chose Yaman, one of the most melodic evening ragas (Kalyani in Carnatic music). He mesmerised the audience with a brief aalap-jod-jhala followed by two compositions in Jhap taal and Teen taal, respectively. Assisted by his disciple Kiran Vaishnavi and Ashish Lalwani on tabla, he concluded his fascinating flute recital with a folk tune of Bengal, which also had the melodious touches of Bengali kirtan.

Ulhas Kashalkar’s vocal renditions of ragas Kedar and Basant-Bahar, accompanied on tabla by Suresh Talwalkar, Shahid Parvez’s raga Yaman on sitar, accompanied on tabla by Ravindra Yavagal, and Venkatesh Kumar’s vocal renditions of ragas Behag, Kaunsi Kanhada, and Durga were memorable moments of Hindustani classical music.

Lalgudi GJR Krishnan’s raga Kapi and tillana in Sindhu Bharavi, Kanyakumari’s Mallari in Gambheer Nata on violin, Jayanthi Kumaresh’s ragam-tanam-pallavi on the veena in raga Pantuvarali, and Carnatic vocal by Neyveli Santhangopalan’s varnam in raga Abhogi were some of the remarkable classical Carnatic performances.

The Kathak performance by Sunayana Hazarilal brought the old-world charm of the Janaki Prasad Parampara of Benaras gharana. She is the seniormost representative of this lineage and presented the choicest bandishes of her gharana, especially those composed by her guru and husband, Hazarilal. Sunayana also presented Chakradar Farmaishi, rare gems, along with crisp footwork. For the abhinaya segment, she chose a Benarasi dadra, Baanke more Saiyan, and captivated the audience by enacting the Baankapan of the Saiyan in umpteen ways. Showcasing her senior disciple, Aruna Swami, she proved her dedication as a generous guru by concluding her recital as a duet with Aruna.

Intensive workshops on classical and folk music and dance, Gurbani, puppetry, theatre, and other undereminent resources were rare opportunities for enthusiastic students. Wasifuddin Dagar initiated them into dhrupad singing, emphasising the importance of its meditative aalap. Raja Miyan, a renowned representative of Agra gharana, spoke to them about how to train the voice, starting with the morning raga Bhairav, before he taught them the bandish (composition) and taans.

The Carnatic vocal intensives under Neyveli Santhangopalan and Malladi Suri Babu, Gurbani under Alankar Singh, and Naad-Yoga by Ritwik Sanyal provided different flavours of music. The crafts workshops had Tikuli Kala from Bihar taught by Ashok Kumar Biswas, Gond tribal painting under Bhajju Singh Shyam, Mughal miniature paintings under Janab Shakir Ali, mask making by Hemchandra from the Majuli island of Assam, and terracotta (Tamil Nadu) by V.K. Munusamy.

Classical dance intensives were the most popular, where gurus Shanta and V.P. Dhananjayan taught Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi was taught by N. Shailaja, Kathak by Sunayana Hazarilal, Mohini Attam by Kalamandalam Sugandhi, Odissi by Madhavi Mudgal, Kathakali by Kalamandalam M.P.S. Nambudiri. There were also intensives of Pung Cholam by Khumukcham Romendro Singh, Purulia Chhau by Tarapad Rajak, theatre under Ram Singh of Habib Tanvir’s Naya Theatre, puppetry under Sudip Gupta, HathaYoga under Swami Tejomayananda, and meditation under Brahmakumari Sister Manisha to name just a few of the intensives.

The afternoon sessions had a variety of performances, like the lively Kabir Gayan by Kaluram Bamaniya. The mesmerising Baul Gaan by Parwati Baul was soaked with the Baul philosophy. Pung Cholam by Khumukcham Ramendro Singh and group was performed with rituals of lighting the lamp with the ‘ShankhaNaad’, the auspicious conch-shell blowing alongside guru and gaurang vandana. The sight of nearly fifteen Pung Cholam practitioners wearing a white dhoti and white headgear with the Pung percussion instrument hanging from their shoulders filled the whole atmosphere with a sense of piety. The young audience was amazed to see all of them playing Pung drums and dancing together all at once.