a tsunami relief concert at Georgia Tech

Aarohi, a recently-conceived Georgia Tech student organisation to promote interest in Indian classical music hosted a Tsunami Relief Concert in association with Vibha's Atlanta chapter and the Atlanta chapter of UNA. The affiliation with ICMS meant that I was around to help and attend. Statistically, all the performers were Bengalis. And but for Kakali Bandhopadhyaya (Sitar) and Krishnakali Bakshi (harmonium), they were/have been faculty members at the Pandit Jasraj School of Music (Sougata Banerjee -- vocal, Prithviraj Bhattacharjee -- tabla). It was a pity that the tabla remained in a supporting role all evening. The vocal performances of raag jaijaiva.nti, aadii (aka havelii) basan.t [thanks to PB for that piece of information], and the (regrettably brief) final bhairavii were my favourite picks. The turnout was high (a good thing for the relief effort), but I couldn't help wondering "why does it take a natural disaster to get such a huge turnout for a hindustani classical music concert? where are all the rasiks?"