SPICMACAY organised its 4th International Convention at The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi in June 2017. The objective of the event was to encourage young students to promote and preserve Indian music, dance, art and culture.

It was week long program that started on Monday, 5th June, 2017. The seven day extravaganza started with some spectacular performances by Guru Thanil Singh (Pung cholan), Ustad Nasiruddin Sami (Hindustani Vocal), and Guru Ghanakanta Bora (Sattriya nritya). The inaugural program was succeeded by an orientation session addressed by Prof. Kiran Seth - founder of SPICMACAY, followed by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (Sarod), T N Krishnan (Carnatic Vocal) with Vidwan Umayalpuram Sivaraman (Mridangam), and Pandit Jasraj concert in the evening.

Highlight of the event was virtual addressing of the audience by none other than Prime Minister of our country, Mr. Narendra Modi. He addressed the audience present via Video conference. Speaking to the occasion, he said, “Culture and music can play a vital role in connecting our country. It can be a big step towards realising EK BHARAT, SHRESTHA BHARAT. The yuva shakti of our nation can take the country to new heights”.

The course of convention was such that each participant got a chance to learn so much in such a short span of time. Students learnt yog, shrandaan, intensives, yog nidra, lectures, demonstrations, talks and concerts, etc. Each participant was allotted one intensive workshop for the week.

Archit Trivedi, Yashita Singh Parmar, Avni Marwah of Grade 9, and Kritika Sharma of Grade 7 from GIIS Noida participated in the workshop. Our students got an opportunity to learn Chittara Tribal painting. Chittara is an autochthonous art practice. It is a ubiquitous cultural phenomenon of the Deevaru community – a matriarchal and an agrarian community of nature worshipers, residing in and around Sagar from Shimoga district of Karnataka. It is engaged primarily by the Women folk of the community as a socio-cultural practice, which embodies a microcosm of socio-cultural dynamic. They use eco-friendly natural resources like ground rice paste for white colour, roasted rice for black, yellow seeds (Gurige) red earth, and the brushes are made up of Pundi Naaru.

The students also got the opportunity to see live performances of various artists such as Vid. Sudha Raghunathan (carnatic vocal), Vid. Saroja Vaidyanathan/ Vid. Rama Vaidyanathan (Bharatnatyam), Smt. Teejan bai (Pandvani), Pt Rajendra Gangani (kathak), Raja and Radha Reddy (Kuchipudi) and many more. 15 workshops, one each from the SAARC countries were also conducted.

Global Indian International School (GIIS) Noida as a global education promoter believes in exposing its students to the rich cultural heritage of the country. The youth of today must know the importance of our ancient culture like dance forms, art, art sites or monuments, etc. as these things depict who we really are and how much our ancestors have worked to bring up this civilization.

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