Sarod Ghar

Creating Sarod Ghar has been a hard but satisfying journey  In creating this museum of musical heritage,  main achievements have been:

• Establishing a unique cultural institution devoted to classical music, perhaps the first of its kind, in the country.
• Creating and displaying one of the finest collections of musical instruments belonging to past masters of Classical music.
• Displaying one of the finest collections of photographs and portraits of classical musicians.
• Creating one of the most active and prestigious hubs of classical music in the country. Performing or listening to a concert in the courtyard at Sarod Ghar is a unique experience for both the artiste and the connoisseur.
• Achieving recognition from not only artistes and leaders, but from the day to day visitors and music lovers, for whom a visit to the museum is akin to a pilgrimage.
• Putting Gwalior back on the map of classical music, it having once been the musical capital of the country for many centuries.

Sarod Ghar is still in its infancy and we still have a lot to accomplish. It is our now our intention to make a concerted effort to bring the institution up to the desired level of excellence. In brief, the areas which we need to work on are:

• Completing the museum as per its aims and objectives. We are working on the content and a display system to create a world class experience.
• Upgrading the exhibition facilities to make them more informative. This would include interactive displays with sound to add another dimension to the instruments exhibited. Concepts of classical music such as raga, guru-shishya parampara, riyaaz and sadhana need to be elaborated.
• Displaying one of the finest collections of photographs and portraits of classical musicians.
• Installing trained professional management and staff to run the institution. The museum needs a team of professionals to create the experience desired.
• Organizing the programming calendar to promote the activities of the museum. This would include in- house performances, an annual music festival, lecturedemonstrations, workshops in music, teaching under the guru-shishya parampara.
• Creating a museum manual on running and care of the property and exhibits. Gwalior has an extreme climate which needs to be addressed.
• Collecting more material for the museum and library including display items, books, audiovisual recordings, photographs etc.
• Creating the necessary activities and developing ties with government and corporate agencies as well as tour promoters to create an itinerary that would make use of the museum in a mutually beneficial manner.

Since 1996, the museum has been supported mainly by the personal funds of the family and private donations through its trustees, music lovers and patrons of Indian art and culture. Budget constraints over the last many years has made running the museum a very difficult proposition and at present it is running short of its potential.

We realize that without the correct inputs in terms of personnel and funds, we are facing an uphill task. We are looking for bringing on board other organizations, institutions, and well wishers with the right expertise to help us in realizing our goals.