Indian Music Experience: A museum that journeys through Indian Music
Two months ago, on Kannada Rajyotsava, The Indian Music Experience museum at JP Nagar opened to the public.
Spread over two acres, this museum has nine exhibits strategically placed to give guests an immersive experience in Indian music. Every exhibit has its own aura and its own music. The music of one exhibit does not interrupt another. Each exhibit has their own aesthetic and different modes of listening and viewing media. A notable exhibit is a room where the walls are filled with 108 different types of Indian classical instruments which range from sitars to rarely seen wind instruments.
Outside the building, there is a sound garden, where people can experience sound and experiment with giant xylophones, singing stones, railings that sing, and gongs that are arranged to look like a lotus flower.
“The reason why we started this museum was that we wanted people to become aware of kinds of music. We aim to become the number one museum in Asia,” facility manager Sridhar said.
Inspired by the Grammy’s museum in Los Angeles, the construction of the museum took seven years to complete. After that, the interior of the museum took two years to finish. The museum is a Brigade Group undertaking, and is funded by the central and state government. The 108 instruments being exhibited were purchased from venues, gifted by musicians and sourced through vendors.
“Since the museum recently opened on the first of November 2018, we haven’t had our grand launch yet. We are promoting the museum by spreading the word on social media and sending pamphlets around. On an average, about 100 people come here per day and they always have something good to say about this museum,” Sridhar said.
The museum is constructed in such a way that the spectator appears to be walking back in time, to the heart and origin of music. There are amphitheatres that give the person an immersive audio-visual experience into the history of that specific style of music.
The music videos of every era of Indian music are displayed in creative ways. The contemporary music exhibit displays their music videos in decorated auto-rickshaws. An exhibit titled ‘Stories through Songs’ contains three suitcases with the most popular and relatable items used in that time or genre, along with relevant songs as accompaniments to the experience. The exhibit The Star played their music videos through kaleidoscopes that were dedicated to each artist.
There are different opportunities to put musical passion into action.
In the contemporary expressions exhibit, people can create their own music by blending Indian and world instruments together. In the section ‘Living Traditions’, one can test their knowledge of Carnatic music and try their hand at playing different percussion instruments. After ‘The Stars’ exhibit, where there is an aesthetic assembly of the yesteryear of Indian cinema music, the visitor is finally catapulted to modern reality: the exit door of the museum.
“It’s actually my second time here with my kid. I even brought my friend along with me,” said Kamala, mother of a nine-year-old boy.
Kamala was looking for something new that her son could enjoy without getting bored. She heard of the museum through looking up events on Google, while her friend, Rekha, heard of the museum from her.
“My favourite part of this museum was listening to soothing Indian classical ragas as I am a fan of Hindi and filmy music,” said Rekha, mother of an eight-year-old girl.
They had no idea of what to expect and they were ‘pleasantly surprised’ by what they saw. They said that the museum was very interactive and engaging and their kids never got bored with what they were playing.
“The existence of a museum like this is important because it is a learning experience for people of all ages…especially children because they have not seen instruments like the jal tarang and gramophone. There is a need to carry on our Indian culture and heritage,” said Rekha.
They agreed they would visit the museum again, but with more people. They felt that with every new visit, they could experience the museum in a new way and gain a new perspective on what they are seeing and listening to.
