Vibrant Music Academia, Performance & Research

News

- Project – School Connect
  The Department of Music is going for an Awareness Drive among the senior school students, their guardians and High School teachers on Indian Music Academia. The project will be known as ‘Project – School Connect’. The effort will be to tell the people how music academia can open up opportunities, the available facilities, the path to higher education, researches, self-entrepreneurship and so on. The first phase of the project will be limited to the Higher Secondary schools in and around Gangtok. The Project Coordinator will be Dr. Samidha Vedabala, Assistant Professor, Department of Music, Sikkim University. Dr. Vedabala will receive primary support in strategy implementation from Mr. Manoj Rai, Guest Faculty, Department of Music. August 08 2018 The school visits will start from August 2018. Dr. Samidha Vedabala along with her student team will visit and interact with the teachers and students. On next Friday August 10, 2018 they will visit Baha’i Sr. Sec.School Saramsa, Ranipool. This team will have Subham Peter Gajmer and Atish Tamang, both students of MPA-I of the department will be in the team. On Saturday, August 11, 2018 the same team will visit Brahaspati Parsai Memorial Senior Secondary School, Ranipool. On the same day the team will visit Tashi Namgyal Academi [TNA], Gangtok. ... Read more...
- Feb 13, 2018 – Hindustani Music and the West: The View from California | Speaker: Dr. David Trasoff
  Dr. David Trasoff will visit the Department of Music on 13 February 2018. He will give a talk on Hindustani Music and the West: The View from California. This will be split into two parts. In the second part, he will give a demonstration on his sarod. Hindustani Music and the West: The View from California Lecture 1 The founding of the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) in the San Francisco area in 1967 ranks as a seminal event in any retrospective view of the introduction and acceptance of Hindustani classical music in the West. I will present a general overview of how Indian music was received and the degree to which it was integrated into the American cultural fabric in the middle and late 20th century, with particular attention to the circumstances that led to the origin of the AACM and its subsequent history as a cultural institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, and more generally in the United States. As well as the role of the artists, particularly Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar, the role of Dr. Robert E. Brown (1927-2005) is of special significance. Lecture 2 The methodology that Ustad Ali Akbar Khan innovated to teach Hindustani classical music at his California college was a unique and effective combination of traditional and modern elements. I will discuss and illustrate the pedagogy used by Khansahib based on my personal experience and observations, including what was traditional in his methodology and how he created his own distinctive system of tools and methods. I will also discuss the relationship between the lessons given to us by Khansahib, and the realization of his teaching in actual performance. About David Trasoff David Trasoff holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, based on his research into the transformation of Hindustani instrumental performance practice in response to colonialist narratives. His exploration of the dynamics of the All-India Music Conferences of 1916-1925 was published in Hindustani Music: Thirteenth to Twentieth Centuries. He has also published in Asian Music and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Dr. Trasoff has presented his research at conferences in the United States, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. His recent work has focused on the role played by Sourindro Mohun Tagore in influencing European views of North Indian classical music, based on research conducted throughout Europe under the auspices of a grant from the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbestiz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) in association with the Berlin State Museums. In 2012 David was a visiting professor at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia as the Gordhain Patel Distinguished Visiting Professor of Indian Music Studies. He has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, the California State University, Pomona College and Occidental College. David Trasoff is a senior disciple of the late maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and performs worldwide on the sarod. He widely performed in the USA, India and European countries. His recordings include a CD of North Indian Classical music recorded with Ustad Zakir Hussain. Visit http://www.davidtrasoff.com for more information. The poster: ... Read more...

WELCOME

Welcome to the Department of Music at the Sikkim University. We offer undergraduates the opportunity to specialize in music. Our post-graduate programs in Indian Classical Vocal Music, Sitar, Bamboo Flute, Violin, and Tabla are aimed to produce leading scholars and commendable musicians. The Ph.D. programme offers an enjoyable research experience for the serious researchers. The department especially welcomes scholars with a questioning mind, analytical approach, and grit.

A defining feature of the department is the high degree of interactions among faculty, graduates, undergraduates, and researchers. The department also puts in efforts to foster fruitful relationships with the wider community. We are located in a place called Tadong. This is near Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, on the foot of the great Himalayas. The area is full of ethnographic resources and offers an amazing ambiance perfect for any pursuit of creativity. The whole presence creates an ideal setting for the community to engage in the rich array of intellectual and musical pursuits to which we are committed. We look forward to welcoming you!