Bangalore’s First Interactive Music Museum Opens Its Doors Tomorrow!

If as a child your school was one for field trips; you would remember that museum visits weren’t particularly interesting but perhaps served as an escape from the monotonous teaching hours in the classroom. You would probably be reminded of exhibits behind a pane of glass, that you could only see from a certain distance but were forbidden to touch. See it, read about it on the information boards and try marvelling at it. The experience ended there. But there’s a museum in Bangalore; that’s doing things very differently. The Indian Music Experience is opening an interactive museum in Bangalore, with musical installations, classes, and even a very cool café and sound garden; that launches July 29 at 11 am.

Conceptualised by renowned musicologist, Dr Pappu Venugopala, Carnatic vocalist Mansi Prasad and other stalwarts of music; the museum called the Centre for Indian Music Experience is set to open in phases in JP Nagar, in the coming months, but the café and the sound garden are all set to open tomorrow. The all-day event will be a cultural extravaganza marked by a series of performances and events featuring SamCara; who will talk about ‘the sound of change’; folk dance by Bhramari, contemporary dance by Aayana, Kamsale by Lingaiah and Aparamparagaata by Muki Sablania. You can find a detailed schedule on their Facebook page here.

Co-created by SVARAM Musical Instruments, the 10 Musical Installations in the Sound Garden are unique. There is the humming stone, that creates music when your pop your head into it, a xylophone railing that you can musically run your fingers through, musical sculptures such as reeds, chimes, tubular bells and even plate gongs that introduce visitors to the principles of sound. The Bangalore Mirror quoting Manasi Prasad, project director, Indian Music Experience says “the sound garden is aimed at being a preparatory experience. Music and nature are closely intertwined and the sound garden reflects that. We wanted the space outside the museum to be a fun, experiential zone, where people of any age can come and play an instrument, even if they are not musicians.” Designer Michael Foley, who implemented this concept along with Svaram told the Times of India that, “The whole idea behind the Sound Garden was to create an immersive experience, where one gets to feel the notes and vibrations, while also ensuring that we put across the message that nature and music are inter-related and express it through installations.”

The museum will have 8 galleries, each focusing on a different aspect of music such as its diversity, international influences and history of recording. There is also a Learning Centre that is already offering music classes to children, and will also have tutorials and diploma courses in the future.

The four-storeyed Centre for Indian Music Experience, with an aim to enlighten people about the rich legacy and cultural diversity of Indian music is modelled around the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle; and encourages interaction. Visitors can record and make music at their studios, experiment with mixing music on consoles to gain a holistic musical experience with computer based interactive installations. Also on display will be late Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai and Sudha Raghunathan’s tambura. They also have late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s shawl, a pan box and waistcoat; reports The Times Of India. All of this will be exhibited in the instruments gallery; showcasing around 250 Indian Musical instruments.

If you are ready to hit the high note and experience something spectacular; you know where to head tomorrow.

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