For Decades, Varanasi Family Teaches Indian Classical Music To 10000 Across The World
Brothers Pandit Laxman Rao Nayak Kewale and Pandit Gangadhar Rao Kewale started the International Music Centre Ashram in Varanasi in 1975 to promote and teach Indian classical music through instruments including tabla, bansuri, sitar, and sarangi
April 10, 2021
Not too far from the ghat, sprawled along the River Ganga are the famous gullies and pedestrian alleys of Dashashwamedh area in Varanasi. No more than 6 feet wide, these ever tangling maze-like lanes are part of a heritage walk in one of the oldest cities of India. They have had immense influence from their foreign visitors. For example, you could walk past a sadhu giving sermons in a foreign language, or stop by for a coffee at a cafe run by a Korean.
Traversing these lanes will also lead you to a rustic heritage structure, roughly 100 years old, bearing a sign that says ‘International Music Centre Ashram’. A door, a little over 5-feet tall, will lead you to the reception area, crossing which takes you into a courtyard with distinct architectural features for visitors to feast their eyes on, followed by a chauraha or a baithak hall, where musicians from different parts of the world learn, practice or even perform Indian classical music.
For more than four decades now, the Ashram has created over 10,000 musical jewels that have taken Indian classical music to different corners of the planet. Musicians from Europe, Japan, USA, Australia, Korea, and Latin America, to name a few, have learned to play instruments such as the tabla, santoor, bansuri, bamboo flute, violin, and sarangi, as well as vocals and dance forms such as kathak and bharatnatyam.
Many of these musicians have become professionals, who are now spreading their love for Indian classical music in their respective countries by performing concerts and teaching. The ashram also finds mention in the Lonely Planet.
Taking India’s musical heritage to the world
Pandit Laxman Rao with student.
Continuing the legacy of this ashram is Sandeep Rao, part of the fourth generation that has been running the centre. He says, “Musicians organise concerts to entertain tourists, visitors and locals in the baithak hall two days a week. The ritual is to attend the Ganga Aarti at 7 pm and walk to the centre for a concert,” he tells The Better India.