In an enlightening yet riveting series of events, renowned classical singer and Padma Shri awardee Shubha Mudgal and tabla maestro Dr. Aneesh Pradhan engaged in an interaction with the students and faculty of one of the country’s premier B-schools Goa Institute of Management (GIM) as a part of the institute’s ‘Distinguished Visiting Scholars’ programme. As part of the initiative, the management students, faculty, Goa’s folk artists and the music maestros discussed strategies for mainstreaming Goa’s traditional percussion musical instrument – the Ghumat. It also included a public lecture on Perspectives on music in socio-cultural and eco-political Contexts at International Centre Goa (ICG).
Ajit Parulekar, Director of GIM said “We are focused on creating socially responsible business leaders of tomorrow. Our institutional values have been built around ethics, values, and corporate governance. Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan are not just musicians, they are scholars in the field of music and academics, and we feel privileged to be able to give our students the opportunity to engage with them and get their insights. This is truly a great learning experience for students.”
Professor Divya Singhal, who has an active interest in the field of arts and music, leads the ‘Music and Management’ initiative at the institute. She says, “Events like these ensure that GIM students are allowed an outlet to express their creativity and include empathy in their professional lives. This connection with the music fraternity is consistent with GIM’s perspective that we must give students the opportunity to be more empathetic so that they can start to see things through an empathy-based lens in order to build responsible future leaders.”
During the session ‘Mainstreaming the Ghumat: A hackathon to discuss future strategies for the instrument and its practitioners’, Shubha Mudgal and Dr. Aneesh Pradhan, faculty and students deliberated on the challenges and nuances of the Ghumat. Eminent Goan folk-artist Kanta Gaude was also present to give an insightful peek into his experiences with the instrument. His folk troupe presented a stunning performance in order to demonstrate the power Goan folk music holds.
During his address, Aneesh Pradhan said, “As we all know, Ghumat is an integral part of the world of Indian music. Its distinctive sound can be identified easily and is loved by many. It has encountered many problems in recent years. Mainly the controversy surrounding its use of the skin of the monitor lizard. People have tried experimenting and coming up with other alternatives to combat this issue, but nothing sounds like the authentic Ghumat.”
The students at GIM presented the introduction, context, and problems of Goa’s traditional musical instrument Ghumat and suggested solutions in teams.
Harshda Gholve, a student of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) who participated in the Hackathon said, “The discussion before the Hackathon helped me understand the various problems being faced by the Ghumat artists and the complexities of the issues. I realized that to preserve our traditions and music culture, we need to do much more than be a mute audience. We came up with the idea of using new trends as well as traditional mediums such as social media, street art, and influencer marketing to enhance the cognizance and visibility of the resource such as Ghumat.”
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