International Women’s Day has been marked in India on March 8 for several years, but it is only in the recent past that the world of Hindus...
International Women’s Day has been marked in India on March 8 for several years, but it is only in the recent past that the world of Hindustani music seems to have joined in these celebrations. Sadly, much of this has to do with staging large, sponsored events, no different from any other event in the year, rather than addressing issues related specifically to women in general and women artiste in particular.
There is a perfunctory inclusion of women performers in concerts held as part of these events, and in many cases, all the members of the ensemble are women. While the latter is a welcome change, I wonder why this should be restricted only to concerts held on this day. All-women ensembles have been created recently, but should not necessarily be put together only for International Women’s Day.
However, going ahead with our series on music conferences from the past, I thought this would be an opportune moment to revisit a women’s conference that took place in Calcutta, not to observe International Women’s Day but for quite a different reason. This was the All-India Women’s Music Conference, which took place on December 17, 18, and 19, 1954, under the auspices of the Ramkrishna Mission.
The festival...
