SaRe Gaayein | Rhythm for the heart and soul
Shubhendra and Saskia Rao’s SaRe Gaayein initiative aims to initiate children, including those marginalised, into classical music so that they grow up as sensitive, kind citizens
If the practice of music, like all art, improves the mind, leading to overall refinement, no less pleasure is obtained from disseminating its tools amongst eager learners. The avowed goal, or “mission”, of a unique undertaking of a husband-wife duo—Pandit Shubhendra Rao, a sitarist, and his cellist wife Maestro Saskia Rao-de Haas—has this as a point of departure, but goes well beyond that. Indeed, their uncommon ambition is surprising in its scale: Who would have thought of music, especially classical music, as the “birthright of a child”? Or conceived children-friendly music books that teach basics like taal, svara (rhythm and notes) and later raag, through illustrated stories? SaRe Gaayein, an initiative of the Shubhendra and Saskia Rao Foundation, believes in music as a “healthy diet”, something that helps people “interact more peacefully, increases intellect and helps children uncover their potential”.
The couple visualised imparting music lessons through stories in picture books, so that a child poring over them in a corner can get a sense of music humming within her, enriching her immeasurably. The foundation aims to promote Indian classical music among children and people who don’t have easy access to it, thus making them conscious and aware of its rhythms, beats and harmonies. The name SaRe Gaayein, beginning with the first three notes—sa, re, ga—also stands for sang-chalo (come together), rishta jodo (cement ties) and geet gaayein sur mein (sing in tune), respectively.
” HAPPINESS MANTRA: “When I see the eyes of children welling up with joy, believe me, it’s precious!” — PANDIT SHUBHENDRA RAO, Sitarist
The Raos started a music education programme, Sangeet 4All, in 2014. It was an initiative to introduce music as part of the normal school curriculum with appropriate methodology, not as an extra-curricular subject. That year, they founded SaRe Gaayein too. The initiative attempted to connect with underprivileged children in rural and tribal areas and with the rich musical traditions they inherited. The Tata Steel Foundation and the NGO Aspire also joined in to revive folk music that is closeted within indigenous groups.
In their recent interaction with 500 children on January 23 in Kalinganagar in Odisha’s tribal heartland, the Raos learnt about local art themselves, besides imparting music lessons to them. Prior to that, during a visit to the Ho tribal village of Mirigi Chara in Jajpur district, the use of the percussion instruments Mandar and Nagara, and the villagers’ distinctive singing style left a deep impression. “Folk music has a functional use; it is sung in seasonal and harvest festivals and weddings. Our objective is to bring it to the mainstream. The folk songs of the Manganiyar and Langa communities of Rajasthan are popular because they have been brought to the mainstream,” says Shubhendra Rao.
Through their current involvement with Tata Steel’s 1,000 School Project—which aims to improve government school education in Odisha—the Raos are committed to include underprivileged tribal children in their musical curriculum. “It is to understand them and make them understand the cultural wealth they possess, which can be used for community building,” says Shubhendra. “We think the sooner a child starts musical education, the better it is. Music also helps in brain development. As the saying goes, ‘music starts where word stops’, and we are trying to make people realise that,” he adds. To aid this early initiation, says Shubhendra, music books have to be introduced when children are five-six years old, when they have just learnt to read and write.
Saskia has written six books on music that can be read by children as storybooks as well as serve as lesson plans for teachers. Imagine how fascinating it would be for a child to read about raag and taal through a story of a young girl, Tara, who lives with her friends Gattu the ghatam, the tabla twins and Suri, the flute. Then there is a book introducing children to Indian classical music history from 5,000 BC to 2022, crammed with illustrations, all in 100 pages.
As part of Tata Steel Foundation and SaRe Gaayein’s residential bridge courses, there are plans of starting a three-month-long pilot project that will cover 2,700 children of six tribal blocks of Odisha. Apart from children, it is also drawing in their parents, grandparents and other village adults to music classes. The idea is to involve them in singing prayers in gatherings and festivities, as music helps in bonding and community-building.
One objective of SaRe Gaayein is to empower people through music, and the couple has imparted training to many women, which in turn has enabled them to teach it to others. Saskia would instruct women in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. “We chose women with a musical background who lacked encouragement to develop it as a career. Helping them realise their latent talent so that they can gradually use the education professionally is our model of empowerment,” the couple say.
Embedding music in the daily routine can help keep the cacophonous world of ours at bay and weave harmony in individual lives, feel Shubhendra and Saskia, whose efforts towards bringing about a better, happier generation of Indians are exemplary. As thousands of children in their programme grow up to be kind and sensitive citizens, they will have the Raos to thank.— ENDS —
Source: India Today
