Programme Highlights

Monsoon Masti 2

16th to 17th July, 2011 at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Mumbai

Monsoon: Reason for Musical Celebration

Chinmaya Naada Bindu, based at the Chinmaya Vibhooti Ashram, Kolwan, India, conceptualized and successfully conducted the second Monsoon Masti residential camp at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Mumbai, India on July 16th and 17th, 2011. Generally speaking, it is rare to find people who are absolute beginners in Music and those who have crossed the fundamental stages; those who are in the ripe seventh and eighth decades of life and those who are yet to complete even half of one decade; to gather under one roof and listen and sing in hearty harmony. However, when the season is one as energizing and inspiring as the Monsoon, it can really happen, as this workshop established. Setting aside their daily, mundane worries and woes; packing off their innate reservations and inhibitions; there came 60-odd Indians who immersed themselves in an ambience of nature, peace, love and laughter.

Their earnest enthusiasm was aptly honed and heightened by the organizers, led by the genuinely gifted vocalist Smt. Pramodini Rao (Resident Director: Chinmaya Naada Bindu) and the incredibly illustrious flautist Sri Himanshu Nanda(Director, Music: Chinmaya Naada Bindu). The result was a bubbling and bustling programme that offered ‘ear-picked’ ‘melody-medley’ singing lessons and professional performances; complemented by an assortment of activities to tickle the ‘brain buds’. Participants found themselves yearning for more, and the two days that went by, did so with foot-tapping, lip-humming moments throughout. Everyone, by experience, would be bound to second Victor Hugo, who observed: “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”

Masti: Reason for Musical Education

When one is in the mood to celebrate and break free, it can be an arduous task to focus the mind and consciously imbibe significant knowledge—unless there is a generous dose of exciting and enjoyable techniques, topped with a dash of innovative interactions. This is exactly what was achieved at the workshop; and participants, in all likelihood, would not have minded more sessions on theoretical concepts of Indian Classical Music and an emphasis on the importance of true music appreciation. After all, no piece of Carnatic nor Hindustani Music can be absolutely admired and relished if there is an absence of basic technical understanding.

Needless to say, Indian Classical and Devotional Music is timeless, and its very origins are believed to have been in the hearts of ardent spiritual saints and devotees, if not handed down to them by the Heavenly Lords Themselves. Hence, it was but natural to include sessions entwining Music and Meditation, so that the true Bhakti and beauty of the incomparable Indian Fine Arts could be evoked in the hearts of the participants. Such a meticulously planned, and effectively executed camp, had its bonus points as well; the most valuable being a gathering singing praises of Lord Vishnu, brief glimpses of Chinmaya Naada Bindu’s past events and future courses; and opportunities to take home profoundly awakening books and tremendously uplifting Music CDs and DVDs.

This writer attempts to capture in a rhyme, the defining feature of the programme:

Bridging the glaring gap between the challenge so serious
Of ethnic classicism and easy, common and fun modernity;
On the right track of systematic, spiritual music service:
Proved to be the camp in July 2011, called Monsoon Masti!!!

Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda’s deeply loved reflection on music reads: “Music is the ornamentation of silence”. Post-Monsoon Masti 2, it would not be surprising if the Mission members and non-members who were a part of it, went home with lifelong impressions of soul-stirring sounds that adorn ultimate silence.

- Chandni Kishore

(Monsoon Masti Participant)