Ensemble History: Music of India Ensemble

The Music of India Performance Group was formed during the 1959-60 academic year.  In May 1960, they performed in the “Festival of Oriental Music and the Related Arts,” presented by the UCLA Music Department, with Robert Brown as director and Tanjore Viswanathan as flutist. The group remained an extra-curricular “study group” until the 1964-65 academic year, when the course Music 45F/145F (Music of India) was offered for the first time. The course was divided into two sections: North India and South India. Instructors of the Music of India Ensemble include: graduate student Robert Brown; Tanjore Viswanathan (1961); Harihar Rao (1961-66 and 1968-69); Gayathri Rajapur (1964-65); Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy (1975-94); Shubbo Shankar (1976-77); Prabha Atre (1985-86); Shujaat Husain Khan (1996-2010); Abhiman Kaushal (1998 to the present); Nishat Khan (2003); Rahul Neuman (2011-present).

Music of India Ensemble Photo: Courtesy Ethnomusicology Archive	Bob Brown playing the veena Photo: Courtesy Ethnomusicology Archive
Student playing the veena Photo: Courtesy Ethnomusicology Archive	Music of India Ensemble Photo: Courtesy Ethnomusicology Archive
Shujaat Khan (2008) Photo: Reed Hutchinson	Abhiman Kaushal Photo: Courtesy Abhiman Kaushal
Music of India Ensemble (2007) Photo: Todd Cheney	Music of India, sitar class (2009) Photo: Donna Armstrong