The India Students Association will hold a two-day Indian Classical Music Concert, including a demonstration and lecture Saturday and Sunday.
Association president Niranjan Konduri said the concert is a way for the group to share Indian culture with the community and bring everybody together on one social platform.
"Given the recent tragedy, everyone is trying to reach out to each other in one form or another," he said. "Music breaks all barriers, there are no religious or issue backgrounds."
The three-piece group promises to be an interesting experience.
"Imagine yourself caught in the splendor of Mother Nature," Konduri said in a release. "The magic flute producing mellifluous music; soothing tunes filling your ears with delight; uniting your mind, body and spirit."
The musicians include Canadian Catherine Potter, who has flown back and forth between her home in Montreal and India during her 15-year study of the bansuri, a type of flute; Shiv Naimpally, from Plano, Texas on the tabla, a percussion instrument; and UNM Engineering graduate student Harini Muralidharan on the tampura, a stringed instrument.
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Potter has studied with India's leading flutist, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, since 1990 and has performed extensively in North America and India.
Naimpally has played the tabla since the age of 10, later studying in Mumbai, India, under the tutelage of his uncle, reknowned tabla player Pandit Nikhil Ghosh.
Besides classical performances, he has also experimented with non-traditional musical forms including Latin and jazz-fusion groups.
"They're like three rivers combining to form a great ocean," Konduri said of the three musicians.
He said Saturday's demonstrative lecture would help audience members appreciate Indian classical music.
"It's very important that they make full benefit of it," he said.
The Indian Students Association has more than 150 members in graduate and undergraduate programs at UNM.
Its primary goal is to promote Indian cultural heritage by introducing audiences to the music, dance, arts and culture of India.
Besides several programs held at UNM, the association has sponsored city performances, including a fashion show and dance demonstration for mayor Jim Baca during this year's Downtown Summerfest.
This weekend's event is cosponsored by the Associated Students of UNM, Student Special Events and the College of Music.
Refreshments will be provided free of charge by Blue Dragon Coffeehouse during the lecture, and Indian food will be available for a nominal fee the night of the concert.
The lecture will be Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Room B120 of the Center for the Arts and the concert will be Sunday at 4 p.m. in Keller Hall. No admission is being charged for both events.
