Indian dance and music goes global

Vedic Heritage Inc. of Long Island had their annual presentation of Indian Classical Dance and Music at the Pandit Jasraj Auditorium in the Hanuman temple premises in Hempstead, NY with outstanding performances by legendary Indian classical artists, recently.

The program started auspiciously with conch blowing and Mantra/Shlokas chanting after which the traditional Lamp lighting ceremony was performed by the Board of Trustees of Vedic Heritage Inc. and other artists.

The Master of this ceremony was Sunita Buddhiraja, who curated the entire program.

This year, the event was graced by the presence of Mayor of Hempstead Don Ray and witnessed mesmerising performances by vocalist Aarti Ankalikar Tikekar who warmed up the audience with Khayal, Thumri and Tappa. Also, Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma performed Raag Bihag, sang Haveli Sangeet, and invoked Hanuman Ji in Raag Jog. Instrumentalist Vijay Ghate was seen on Tabla. Sitarist Subhendra Rao and Cellist Saskia Rao-De Haas played 'Raag Hemant' with a power packed sitar and cello jugalbandhi. Not only this, Kathak dancer Uma Dogra performed many Abhinaya dances and ended her piece with Suddha Nritta.

Oddissi dancer Madhavi Mudgal dedicated her a dance number to Lord Jaganath.

Sunita Budhiraja author, poet, curator and entrepreneur, said, "I felt very blessed to honour the amazing Indian classical musicians, dancers, instrumentalists and vocalists. It is heart-warming to see the community here keeping the roots alive".

This stage at Vedic Heritage has become a pilgrimage destination for the classical music and dance community from India.