GURUKUL THE MUSIKOLOGY FOUNDATION
Yog bhawan, Block N, Delta III, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201310, India
http://www.gurukulmusicology.in/
GURUKUL – THE MUSIKOLOGY FOUNDATION was set up in 2015 on the quiet, tree-lined lane of Bapu Marg in Adarsh Nagar, Jaipur, with the single mission of preserving North-Indian classical sound while ensuring it remains vibrantly alive for new generations. The entrance is almost unassuming: an arched yellow-ochre doorway salvaged from a dismantled haveli, its carved peacocks hinting that art has lived here for centuries. Beyond this portal the compound unfolds into three low-slung sandstone blocks constructed around an open-air music chowk. Mango, neem and tulsi trees form a natural amphitheatre; their leaves become silent percussion when the evening breeze arrives.
The largest block houses the Saptak Archive, a humidity-controlled library of over 3,600 hours of digitised reel-to-reel recordings donated by Ravi Shankar, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, and lesser-known court musicians of Marwar. Scholars can sit beneath slow-whirring fans on restored teak planter chairs, listening to riyaaz excerpts while scrolling through annotated tanpura apps developed in-house. Every Tuesday, ten pre-selected ragas are piped into a small listening gallery so visitors unfamiliar with Indian notation can watch animated waveforms that spell each meend and gamak in real time.
The east wing is the living, breathing ‘gurukul’ proper. Twenty resident disciples wake at 4:30 a.m. to tone their tanpuras in courtyard grid-markings that replicate the 22 srutis of ancient theory. Dhrupad vocalist and founder Acharya Diptendu Mukherji refuses microphones even during winter fog; instead, he trains students to let their voice ricochet off the stone floor and back into their diaphragm, an acoustic experiment aimed at internalising resonance. Tabla maker Abdul Wahid’s tiny workshop is wedged between the practice rooms; apprentices plane rosewood blocks while listening carefully to the khuli khuli bol being sung next door, matching each syllable to a metal ring before punching the bayan.
Every equinox GURUKUL hosts “Raat Chaandni”, a 12-hour overnight concert. Bamboo mats are rolled out, the audience brings quilts, and riyaaz morphs into performance: a 3 a.m. Darbari Kanada flows seamlessly into dawn’s Bhairav. Security lamps are dimmed to starlight, and moths circle sitar tumba bulbs like obedient taans. Food is simple – poha served in dried banyan-leaf cones by local women who learn revenue-generation through classical catering workshops run by the Foundation.
Need-based scholarships cover 85 % of the annual ₹18,000 tuition; rental income from an adjoining lane keeps the place solvent. GURUKUL is now designing an online DAW plug-in that converts any keyboard into a sur-bahar after dusk. As a banner above the chowk states: “Preserve the past; audition the future.”
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- Published: July 29, 2025
