SCI has got to its credit Silver Jubilee Samraat Sangeet Sammelan - a highly acclaimed National Conference of Indian Classical Music participated by almost all the topnotch artists from legendary maestros - Pt. Ravi Shanker, Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Jasraj, Parvin Sultan, Zakir Hussain and down the lane; more than a decade old Theatre Festival simultaneously at different centres; Literary Festivals; projection of Samraat Students - selection, motivation and inspiration of most cultured, disciplined and best student in every high school every year as the ideal citizen of tomorrow; dance concerts; revival of Country's traditional events as the means of rejoicing and communal harmony e.g. Holi - the festival of colours, Diwali - the festival of lights, Raksha Bandhan - the festival of brotherhood, etc. common to all communities; art galleries; painting exhibitions; elocution; oratory; music schools; scholarships; personality development; etc. are the major activities to quote a few.

SCI has proposed a highly optimistic project of organizing annual Sangeet Sammelans in all the Districts of India taking Indian Classical Music to the doorsteps of the people. Sole objective is to promote, foster Indian music; create more opportunities to the upcoming promising artists coming up in large number all over India, abroad and to attract people to it. To inaugurate this grand event, SCI is organizing International Festival of Indian Classical Music.

CONCEPT: International Festival of Indian Classical Music will be held in August September 2006 at 6 centres - Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, London and New York with the participation of maestros like Pt. Hariprasad Chowrasia (Flute), Smt. Girija Devi (Vocal) and others. Festival will be inaugurated at Shanmukhananda Hall, Mumbai on 19th August 2006 and concluded at Zankel-Carnegie Hall, New York on 20th September 2006. Pt. Hariprasad Chourasia on Flute and Ustad Shujaat Khan on sitar accompanied by Pt. Yogesh Samsy on Tabla will feature in New York Festival.


INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC: The present system of Indian music stands on two important pillars: raga and tala. Raga is the melodic form while tala is the rhythm underlying music. Together, raga and tala distinguish Indian music from many other musical systems of the world. The rhythm of music is explored through beats in time. Melody evolved as the raga through several processes and the tala resulted from a similar evolution in rhythm.
  
Thus raga, which means colour or passion, became a framework to create music based on a given set of notes (usually five to seven) and characteristic rhythmic patterns. The basic constituents of a raga can be written down in the form of a scale (in some cases differing in ascent and descent). By using only these notes, by emphasizing certain degrees of the scale, and by going from note to note in ways characteristic to the raga, the performer sets out to create a mood or atmosphere (rasa) that is unique to the raga in question. The solo performances are generally vocal and instrumental. Flute is the recent addition.
The idea of the tala is embedded in the concept of time. In Hindustani music it is the artist who bestows quality on Time. A musician marks the beginning of his tala whenever he wants. He also creates his divisions in time. He thus creates the first beat. The flow of time is now released, channelled and directed. The artist then creates a beat to mark the first division or segment.
  
With this first division in time the flow becomes comprehensible. The artist subsequently puts in successive and equidistant strokes. He thus makes available to us the matra, a measure to compute musical time. The duration between two matras is known as the tempo. The release of the time flow and the determination of the measure to compute it are the primary requirements to make a tala.
   
Cyclical and repetitive time-patterns composed of groups of long and short duration time divisions are talas, as we know them today. In every tala in Hindustani art music clapping (tali), tapping of fingers and waving of the palm (khali or kal) are analogous. These weave a pattern of sound and silence. Ancient treatises enumerate 108 talas. However, contemporary performances are normally restricted to about 15 talas.
Talas gain life and body when instruments play their role. Instrumental sounds, when expressed onomatopoeically, formulate sound syllables. These sound syllables, when fitted suitably to the tala-divisions, create thekas, the tala-expression that is actually played and heard in Hindustani music.
Thus the talas function as accompanying entities in Hindustani music and dance. They also serve as the basis for solo renditions in rhythm music.