Kiran Seth
Encyclopedia
Kiran Seth is an India
n academic, who is Associate professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering
at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
, and is most known as the founder of SPIC MACAY
(1977), a non-profit organization which promotes Indian classical music, Indian classical dance, and other aspects Indian culture, amongst youth the world over; through its 250 chapters and through conventions, baithaks, camps, lectures and musical fests.
In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri
by the Government of India
for his contribution to the Arts.
s was the only musical influence he had as a child.
Kiran Seth secured AIR(All India Rank) 28 in the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination.
Kiran Seth was one of the toppers of Mechanical Engineering (B.Tech) from IIT Kharagpur in the year 1970, after which he did his Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University
in New York.
in 1974, a job he gave to return to India in 1976 to teach and do research work at IIT Delhi, where he has been working ever since. it was at IIT Delhi that he founded SPIC MACAY in 1977.
He has been member of several committees and boards, including, Central Advisory Board of Education, General Council of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations
(ICCR), Executive Board of the Sangeet Natak Akademi
, and Advisory Board (Education) of the Kendriya Vidyalaya
Sangathan.
) in 1977, a society that has done phenomenal amount of work in the area of promoting classical music and culture amongst school and colleges in India and more recently in different parts of the world.
This is the biggest, non profit, voluntary, cultural, youth movement in independent India. Its contribution to Indian classical music & dance is unparalleled. Generations of Indians are today aware of Indian classical music and in a position to appreciate it, thanks to the efforts of Professor Seth.
Today the movement conducts thousands of concerts, lec-dems, talks, yoga workshops, classic film shows, theater shows and handicraft fairs all over in schools and colleges so that the young person is inspired and awakened.
After this, the movement spread organically. Students from other colleges agreed to organize similar programmes and a new catchy name SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) was given to the movement. It soon spread to other cities. In 1981, schools joined in too. Though we began with classical music, over years other facets of our heritage such as folk music, yoga and meditation, crafts, talks by inspired writers, painters, philosophers, social activists and environmentalists, walks to the monuments with historians, theatre, fi lm classics and even holistic food were included in the gamut of its activities. Initially, it was very diffi cult to get the best artists perform for a pittance. I remember going to meet Ustad Bismillah Khan at the Crown Hotel in Fatehpuri, Chandni Chowk. Despite my elaborate discussion on how his help would change the face of the Indian youth, he refused to cooperate when I told him we had practically no money to offer. But I did not give up and something about the sincerity of my efforts might have struck him. He finally agreed to perform for SPIC MACAY. Pandit Birju Maharaj, Vidushi Sonal Mansingh, Pandit Jasraj, The Dagar Brothers, Dr T.N. Krishnan, Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan were among the initial group of artistes who consented to support the movement. Most of our other great artistes pitched in later and helped it grow further.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n academic, who is Associate professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
The Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi , commonly known as IIT Delhi or IITD, is a college of engineering in Delhi, India...
, and is most known as the founder of SPIC MACAY
SPIC MACAY
The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth, often known by its initials , is not just a non-profit organization which promotes Indian classical music, Indian classical dance, and other aspects of Indian culture, it is a movement with chapters in over 300 towns...
(1977), a non-profit organization which promotes Indian classical music, Indian classical dance, and other aspects Indian culture, amongst youth the world over; through its 250 chapters and through conventions, baithaks, camps, lectures and musical fests.
In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
for his contribution to the Arts.
Early life and education
Born on 27 April 1949 Kiran Seth's father, Prof. Bhojraj Seth, was a mathematician and the first professor at the IIT Kharagpur, established in 1951, while his mother Bhagawathi was a housewife, and whose singing bhajanBhajan
A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
s was the only musical influence he had as a child.
Kiran Seth secured AIR(All India Rank) 28 in the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination.
Kiran Seth was one of the toppers of Mechanical Engineering (B.Tech) from IIT Kharagpur in the year 1970, after which he did his Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York.
Career
He started his career working as a Member of the Technical Staff (MTS) at Bell Laboratories, New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1974, a job he gave to return to India in 1976 to teach and do research work at IIT Delhi, where he has been working ever since. it was at IIT Delhi that he founded SPIC MACAY in 1977.
He has been member of several committees and boards, including, Central Advisory Board of Education, General Council of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations
Indian Council for Cultural Relations
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations , is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples...
(ICCR), Executive Board of the Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...
, and Advisory Board (Education) of the Kendriya Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya, is a system of central government schools under the Ministry of Human Resource Development ....
Sangathan.
SPIC MACAY
Prof. Kiran Seth is credited with setting up the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture amongst Youth (SPIC MACAYSPIC MACAY
The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth, often known by its initials , is not just a non-profit organization which promotes Indian classical music, Indian classical dance, and other aspects of Indian culture, it is a movement with chapters in over 300 towns...
) in 1977, a society that has done phenomenal amount of work in the area of promoting classical music and culture amongst school and colleges in India and more recently in different parts of the world.
This is the biggest, non profit, voluntary, cultural, youth movement in independent India. Its contribution to Indian classical music & dance is unparalleled. Generations of Indians are today aware of Indian classical music and in a position to appreciate it, thanks to the efforts of Professor Seth.
Today the movement conducts thousands of concerts, lec-dems, talks, yoga workshops, classic film shows, theater shows and handicraft fairs all over in schools and colleges so that the young person is inspired and awakened.
History behind the movement - A retrospective in the words of Dr Kiran Seth
“As students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur during the late sixties, many of us were into western music in fact, everything that was western. One staff member every year would organize a whole night of Indian classical music called the ‘Green Amateurs Night’ (I still have to figure out why this name!). It was held in a big pandal and we would go basically to look at the ‘interesting’ people who had come to listen to the concerts. Classical music was the last priority for. Years passed. We graduated and many of us went abroad. While doing my PhD at Columbia University in New York in the early seventies, I came across a small advertisement in a weekly newspaper ‘Village Voice’. It was about an upcoming [] concert by Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, under the aegis of the Asia society. A group of us said ‘Chalo dekhen’ (not ‘sure’). None of us knew what dhrupad was or who the Dagars were. I went into the concert walking on ground but came out walking an inch above it. A seed planted during my IIT days had emerged as a wondrous plant. The ‘black box’ concept in science could describe it quite appropriately. I knew the input to the box and the output, but not what took place inside. I realized, what had happened to me could happen to others too. Under the aegis of the India Club of Columbia University, I started organizing concerts of great classical Indian artistes passing through New York. I also started learning Indian classical music. After completion of my PhD, I joined Bell Labs in New Jersey but kept in touch with the concerts and continued my own learning. In 1976 when I returned to India to teach at IIT Delhi, I remember asking my students if anyone had ever heard the name of one of the greatest sitar players Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, who was alive at that time. Not a single student raised his hand. It rang an alarm bell and we decided to do something about it. At that time I was teaching Operations Research to the final year ME students. With this batch we set up MEFORG (Mechanical Engineering Final Year Operational Research Group) and decided to organize a concert. We publicized it widely and I was quite sure that we would be able to fi ll at least half of our Convocation Hall, which has a capacity of about 1500. Five minutes before the concert, there were about five people in hall. When it began, there might have been about ten and by the time the first raga got over, we were back to five. A disastrous start. But we said, never say die. Next year the entire class got involved, making it a MEFYS (Mechanical Engineering Final Year Students) presentation. Having learnt from our past mistakes, this programme was marginally successful.After this, the movement spread organically. Students from other colleges agreed to organize similar programmes and a new catchy name SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) was given to the movement. It soon spread to other cities. In 1981, schools joined in too. Though we began with classical music, over years other facets of our heritage such as folk music, yoga and meditation, crafts, talks by inspired writers, painters, philosophers, social activists and environmentalists, walks to the monuments with historians, theatre, fi lm classics and even holistic food were included in the gamut of its activities. Initially, it was very diffi cult to get the best artists perform for a pittance. I remember going to meet Ustad Bismillah Khan at the Crown Hotel in Fatehpuri, Chandni Chowk. Despite my elaborate discussion on how his help would change the face of the Indian youth, he refused to cooperate when I told him we had practically no money to offer. But I did not give up and something about the sincerity of my efforts might have struck him. He finally agreed to perform for SPIC MACAY. Pandit Birju Maharaj, Vidushi Sonal Mansingh, Pandit Jasraj, The Dagar Brothers, Dr T.N. Krishnan, Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan were among the initial group of artistes who consented to support the movement. Most of our other great artistes pitched in later and helped it grow further.
Awards and recognition
- Padma ShriPadma ShriPadma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
– by the Government of IndiaGovernment of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. - Distinguished Alumnus Award by the IIT Kharagpur.
- NDTV Indian of the YearNDTV Indian of the Year-Winners:-7th NDTV Indian of the Year:The 7th NDTV Indian of the Year was held at the Taj Palace Hotel on October 18, 2011. The winners were:* Indian of the Year – Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal* India's Heroes – India national cricket team...
under Arts and Culture category in 2009. - Sahitya Kala Parishad Award.
- Sanskriti Award.
- Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan Award.
- Keshav Kothari Smriti Award.
- Chand Khan Award.
- Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana AwardRajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana AwardRajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award is an Indian award given for outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace...
2011.