Arijit Mahalanabis – Live
This is a detailed on-camera interview I did of Pandit Arijit Mahalanabis, Guru and Founder of the Society for Indian Music and Arts (SIMA), based in State College, Pennsylvania, USA. Before a live audience, Pandit Arijit expounds very candidly on all that is wrong about our classical arts, the state of Indian Classical Music, the role of music in our lives now, what it should really be about, teaching pedagogy, what to watch out for and much, much more.
Pandit Arijit Mahalanabis began his studies in music under vocalist Smt. Shahana Banerjee of Delhi, shortly before his family moved from India to the United States. Faced with few options for formal study, Pandit Arijit undertook an intense period of self-directed study, encouraged and supported by his mother, Smt. Sukla Mahalanobis. Starting in 1989, he began a long association with Penn State University’s Raaga. During this time, he received much encouragement, mentoring and informal guidance from the members of this group, in particular in the joys of Carnatic music. In 1999 he moved to Seattle, a seminal moment in his musical life. There, he began a diligent period of discipleship under Smt. Shantha Benegal, a vocalist and musicologist versed in Dagar Bani Dhrupad, Khayal, and Thumri. In 2014, Arijit moved to State College, and established the Society for Indian Music and Arts (SIMA).
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from The Pennsylvania State University and a Masters degree in Computer Science from University of Southern California. He spent a few years working as Senior Engineer in a major aerospace company in Seattle.
