This month we’re celebrating the launch of The Milapfest Institute for Indian Arts.

The new Institute features a library of books, DVDs, CDs and magazines as well as a huge digital archive of live  music and dance performances stretching over the last 30 years.

Created in partnership with Liverpool Hope University, and with the support of the Liverpool City Council, the Institute will enable students, academics and the community to study and enjoy a vast number of live music and dance concerts. In this way, the centre will become a major new resource for Indian Arts in Britain and a unique resource for Liverpool.

The Tag Indian Digital Archives form a major part of the Institute, and are an initiative of the Tag Corporation, Chennai. The archive has been donated to Milapfest by Managing Director of the Corporation, Mr R T Chari, a distinguished Industrialist & Philanthropist from Chennai, India.

Audio files from approximately 10,000 gramophone records have also been donated by Mr Vikram Sampath, music and history connoisseur, and Executive Director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Bangalore.

The archives consist of:

•  6,000 hours of live music concert recordings
• Audio files from approximately 10,000 gramophone records
• Digital videos of live dance programmes of Bharatanatyam and other classical dance forms of India
• An extensive CD library of Hindustani and Carnatic music
• Library of music and dance related magazines and books.

This is the twelfth music archive that Mr Chari has helped to establish.  Eleven such archives function in various cities of India, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

The idea behind the archives is to improve awareness, understanding and appreciation of Carnatic music, the rich and complex classical musical system of south India – a personal mission of Mr Chari.

The archives enable musicians, scholars, researchers and students to easily access great music and dance recordings.

“I congratulate Milapfest and The Liverpool Hope University for hosting this archive – which I am sure, will strengthen cultural bonds between the UK and India” Mr R T Chari.

Milapfest is very grateful to both Mr. Chari and Liverpool Hope University for their help in creation of this Institute.  The centre will be inaugurated by Vice Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University, Professor Gerald Pillay.

Join us to celebrate on Tuesday 30 September, with a free evening concert featuring Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya. Find out more here.