About Harvard Sangeet
Founded in response to the steadily growing number of remarkable South Asian musical talents and enthusiasts on campus, our mission at Sangeet is to usher South Asian music to its deserved place among the other cultural and artistic establishments at Harvard, and to forge a legacy at the intercollegiate and global levels, establishing Harvard as the premier seat of South Asian musical leadership, prominence and excellence.
Sangeet’s activities are devoted to all aspects of South Asian musical performance and scholarship. They are aimed at increasing the exposure and appreciation of South Asian music, providing a forum for teaching and learning, and encouraging performance at the highest levels. Sangeet’s commitment to variety and breadth ensures that there is an event for every type of music-lover. Enjoy informal Antaksharis, study breaks, bhajan workshops, and karaoke nights, or join aficionados for concert field trips, themed jam sessions, fusion opportunities and campus-wide performances, or take advantage of Sangeet’s one-of-a-kind lecture-demonstrations with visiting maestros, intercollegiate conferences and more. Sangeet is also proud to offer a music school through which members of the Harvard community can pursue vocal, instrumental and percussion lessons in the various genres of South Asian music.
Come experience the Sangeet Community!
People
Anusha Tomar: Co-President
Anusha is a junior in Winthrop House, concentrating in Chemical and Physical Biology with a secondary in Economics. Although frequently described as utterly tone-deaf, she enjoys South Asian music in all its forms and is a particular fan of Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Nusrat, Kishore Kumar, and (of course!) A.R. Rahman. Her other interests include art history, international development, and all things Freddie Mercury.
Trisha Pasricha: Co-President
Trisha is a pre-med Junior in Quincy House, concentrating in VES film production. She has been trained in Hindustani Classical voice for 10 years, and is looking forward to a fantastic year with Harvard Sangeet. When not at Sangeet events, Trisha spends her time listening to Mohammed Rafi and wikipedia-ing obscure facts about old Hindi film songs.
Suneel Chakravorty: Co-Outreach Chair
Suneel enjoys playing classical and jazz piano as well as tabla. His favorite classical composer is Chopin and Alla Rakha is simply the best. He has been involved with Sangeet for two years now and plans on music always being a very important part of his life.
Suhas Rao: Co-Outreach Chair
Suhas Rao is a sophomore in Pforzheimer House. He is concentrating in Applied Mathematics and Economics, and his academic interests include math, economics and global health. He has been learning Carnatic violin and vocal for the past ten years, as well as piano, clarinet and saxophone. His musical interests encompass pretty much all conceivable genres from South Asian classical to fusion to classic rock and everything in between. Some of his favorite artists include Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, Zakir Hussain, and the Beatles.
Ameya Velingker: Music School Dean
Ameya Velingker is a senior at Harvard College and concentrating in Mathematics and Physics. Born in Goa but brought up in Pennsylvania, he was exposed to Hindustani classical music from a very young age. He is an avid fan of both Hindustani and Carnatic styles of music as well as Marathi Natyasangeet. Ameya has been playing harmonium since age 4 and is also studying tabla. Apart from music, his interests include pool, tennis, and learning new languages. Ameya currently lives in Currier House.
Madhura Narawane: Publicity Chair
Madhura Narawane is a sophomore in Pforzheimer house. She loves Hindustani classsical music as well as all sorts of Indian fusion music. Kailash Kher, Shankar Mahadevan and A. R. Rahman are some of her favourite contemporary musicians.
Gokul Madhavan: Graduate School Liason
Gokul Madhavan is a graduate student at Harvard University, currently studying Sanskrit, Persian and Indian studies. He has been interested in Indian music, especially Indian classical music, from a very young age, and studied the Carnatic violin in Dubai. He also enjoys singing and his musical interests include critical appreciation of Carnatic compositions, enjoying Hindustani music, Hindi film songs and listening to Western classical music, as a layman. Having spent most of his life in the Middle East, Gokul is also fascinated by Arabic music, and is now trying to learn more about this school of music as well. Gokul's non-musical interests span mathematics, computer science, languages and linguistics, world history and international relations.
Sonali Tatapudy: Secretary
Sonali is a sophomore in Winthrop House. She is planning to concentrate in Neurobiology, and her other academic interests include religious studies, Spanish, anthropology, and psychology. Though she was never formally trained in music, the arts have been the cornerstone of her life. She enjoys listening to and informally singing along to all types of music and loves being surrounded by music. Within South Asian music, her interests include Carnatic, Oldies, modern Bollywood music, bhajans, and regional music.
Andre Davies: Treasurer
Andre Davies is a Chemistry concentrator from Mather House with a secret passion for bhangra, qawwalis, Jamaican fusion, and perhaps most importantly, Sangeet-related financial matters. He never says no to a good beat, and reads science fiction novels and inorganic chemistry textbooks to pass the long hours until the next Sangeet event.
Siddarth Chandrasekaran: Events Manager
Siddarth Chandrasekaran ("Sid") is a sophomore in Eliot House studying Computer Science. He has learned Carnatic music for several years; his favorite artists include KV Narayanaswamy, TM Krishna, Joshua Radin, John McLaughlin, P Unnikrishnan, and Maharajapuram Santhanam.
Alumni
Vasanthi Sridhar
Samir Rao
Vaidya Ganesh Rajagopalan ("G")
Aneesh Kulkarni
Ramya Parthasarathy
Vikas Mouli
Gowri Aragam
Amit Patel
Ellora Derenoncourt
Harvard Advisors:
Dr. Richard Wolf
Dr. Richard Wolf is a professor of ethnomusicology at Harvard University’s Music Department, specializing in veena and mridangam, among his other varied interests. Professor Wolf has done has done extensive fieldwork in South Asia over the years and has cross-disciplinary interests in linguistics, religion, and anthropology. It is Sangeet’s good fortune that he is at Harvard during our years here, and we are incredibly grateful to Professor Wolf for his ready availability, thoughtful ideas, insightful advice and unconditional support and enthusiasm. Sangeet, and the South Asian musical cause are greatly indebted to him.
Dr. Sindhu Revuluri
Profesor Revuluri received her PhD in musicology from Princeton University in 2007, where she also taught for one year. Her research interests include exoticism and modernism in fin-de-siecle France, contemporary Indian music and film, trends in global pop music, and post-colonial approaches to music history. She is currently working on a study of the relationship between empire and modernist musical thought in France, as well as a project on popular musical expression in south India. She joined the Harvard faculty in 2007, and Sangeet is glad to have her on board already as an advisor.
