The Indian Music Experience, India’s first interactive music museum, is presenting a fundraiser event on the 27th of December, 2015 at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore. The event will feature two special music concerts. The first, SAMARPAN, is a tribute to Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi in her centenary year, and will feature her popular songs from the classical, devotional and film genres. This interactive concert is presented by Manasi Prasad – Project Director, IME and will also feature young musicians of Bangalore such as Sahana Ramachandra and Aditi Prahlad on vocals, BK Raghu on the violin, Shadrach Solomon on Keyboard, BS Anand on the mridangam and Adarsh Shenoy on tabla.
The Indian Music Experience is being set up with a vision to increase the understanding and appreciation of Indian music from the traditional to the contemporary. Featuring technology-driven multimedia exhibits, a Sound Garden and a Learning Centre, the IME is being planned as a complete music hub of international standards. Since the completion of the building facility and its inauguration by the Chief Minister Sri Siddaramaiah in 2013, the exhibit design was completed and the manufacture of the musical sculptures for the Sound Garden is underway. The exhibit fabrication is scheduled to begin in early 2016. The Learning Centre wing of the IME is running successfully and music classes in various disciplines are conducted in the acoustically treated classrooms and seminar hall at the premises. The IME has received donations of precious artifacts and audio visual material from several renowned musicians. Noteworthy among these are the gifting of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai and Bharat Ratna Pt.
Bhimsen Joshi’s personal artifacts by their respective families. The IME continues in its endeavor to source rare and precious content for display in its exhibits.
The cost of setting up the IME is Rs. 41 crore, of which over half the required funding has been raised through government grants, corporate houses and individuals. Subject to the raising of the balance funding, the IME is expected to open to the public in 2016.
The IME is a non-profit initiative of the Indian Music Experience Trust, whose main supporter is the Brigade Group. Several other corporate houses such as Prestige Group, State Bank of India, State Bank of India, Chartered Housing, Tandem Allied Services, Canara Bank and others are supporting the IME, which has also received a grant from the Karnataka Government. The Trust is appealing to art lovers and corporate houses of Bangalore to support this cause. Donations to IMET are tax exempt as per Income Tax Section 80G.
The IME is located in Brigade Millennium, JP Nagar 7th Phase, Bangalore. The fundraiser event is supported by Kamachi Bars, Union Architectural Hardware, Total Solutions Intex, S-FORM and others.
