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Preserving memories, experiences, and thoughts from the heart of Hindustani classical music.
Abhipray is an initiative to preserve the memories, experiences of audiences, and thoughts of artists from the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival. The festival has been organized in Pune for the past 70 years by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal. It began as a small program in memory of Bharat Ratna Swarabhaskar Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's guru and has now grown into an international festival.
Through Abhipray, the experiences of audiences, memories of artists, and abhiprays in various languages are preserved. The purpose is not only to document memories but also to inspire future generations with a love and respect for Hindustani classical music.
Vision:
- Promote and spread Indian classical music to a wider audience.
- Make priceless festival experiences and memories accessible to future generations.
- Showcase cultural diversity through abhiprays in multiple languages.
- Document handwritten abhiprays and the unique styles of artists, preserving the traditional and cultural heritage of music.
Jagdish Deshpande, the founder of this initiative, is a passionate music connoisseur. For over 20 years, he has been documenting the abhiprays and memories from the festival. Through this effort, the experiences of artists, thoughts of audiences, and multilingual abhiprays are being preserved.
The abhiprays are available in multiple languages — Marathi, Hindi, English,Gurumukhi many regional languages of India, and some foreign languages such as French, German, and Italian. Handwritten abhiprays allow readers to experience the festival intimately.
Special thanks to all the respected trustees of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal. Many friends and family members contributed to the success of this initiative, including Sandhya Deshpande, Rohan Deshpande, Poonam Nagekar Deshpande, Amruta Deshpande, the late Chandrakant Joshi and his spouse, respected Shri Vikas Petkar and his family, Kedar Pingale, Nishikant Bhume, Yogesh Vaidya, Sapna Vaidya, Lakshmikant Tubaji, Satish Thipse, Pranjali Thipse, and Amit Deshpande. Their support made the collection and preservation of the abhiprays possible and successful.
Jagdish Deshpande's collection of handwritten abhiprays has received recognition from various newspapers and media outlets. His work and initiative have been highlighted in the media.
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