JOY, AWE AND TEARS – My association with Sargam
by
Shireen Isal
Joy, awe and tears: a range of emotions experienced over forty years of artists’ management through Association Sargam! Intense feelings in unequal measure, for the joy and awe has vastly outweighed any angst or tears. For this I owe immense thanks to the fifty Indian musicians and dancers, and their accompanists, that I was privileged to invite to tour Europe over four decades (1978 – 2018). “Joy, Awe and Tears” is that story, of my love affair with the performing arts of India, a discovery that infused me with a passion to reveal its timeless beauty on the shores of that continent – Europe – where destiny brought me: in France, the UK and innumerable European countries.
The vision started with a seed, planted, in the early seventies in Mumbai, through a simple encounter with an Indian dance recital and its protagonists: the iconic Jhaveri Sisters (Manipuri dance) and that awesome connoisseur of Indian dance, Shri Sunil Kothari. And, from that moment, there was no turning back. Revealing the magic of India’s classical heritage to a western audience became akin to a personal calling, which consumed my professional life for forty years. All was not smooth sailing. I have encountered generosity and gratitude but experienced extreme personal hurt and disappointments too; eccentricities and clashes of egos amidst humility and kind understanding. Some of those negative experiences did take their toll but the overwhelming feeling that remains with me today is one of pure magic!
“Joy, Awe and Tears” relates all this simply, as it happened. Above all, it is a catalogue of Sargam’s achievements over four decades and grateful recognition of those – artists, organisers, audiences and family – who made it all possible. I hope you enjoy reading it.
The book is available: in the UK, at Amazon.co.uk. Price: £7.95 + postage (link: https://amzn.to/3gDNeF0). In France and continental Europe, at amazon.fr (link: https://amzn.to/3LF8Xuw ). Price: 9.45 Euros + postage. In India, from 15th March 2022, at www.parsiana.com and in the Parsiana bookshop (K. K. (Navsari) Chambers, Ground Floor, Opp. Cathedral School side entrance, 39B, Amrit Keshav Nayak Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: +91-22-22074347, +91-22-22074335). Price: Rs.599 + postage. It can also be ordered directly from me, the author.
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Thank you so much.
Shireen Isal