Guru Purnima is a day to honor those who have shown us the way, and to celebrate the power of knowledge and learning. It's also an important part of the Indian classical music tradition. It is a festival dedicated to offering respect to all the spiritual and academic gurus.

Sangeethaamsha is proud to announce it's Guru Purnima Baithak being held in Belmont on the morning of Sunday, July 30th 2023 between 8:30 and 11:30AM.

Headline Performance by

Sri Nachiketa Yakkundi: Hailing from Dharwad, Nachiketa Yakkundiji was initiated into Hindustani vocal music by his parents. His formal study began in Madras under Shri B. N. Simha, and later under Shri B. Hanumantachar. His rigorous and extended pedagogy came under the virtuoso Padma Bhushan Pandit Basavraj Rajguru. Nachiketa has performed in several cities across India and North America. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, he runs the Rajguru Sangeet Vidyaniketan school of music.

Sri Vivek Datar: Vivek Datarji learned the art of harmonium solo and accompaniment from (late) Pt. Vinayakrao Kale, who was a Gwalior Gharana vocalist. Kalebua was a prolific composer, with more than 800 compositions of his own. Vivek has taught several of them to his disciples in bay area. Currently Vivek learns from Vidushi Seema Shirodkar as and when time permits. Seema hails from Mumbai, and is a disciple of Pandit Tulsidas Borkar. Vivek has accompanied several noted artists such as Vidushi Veena Sahastrabuddhe, Vishushi Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Vidushi Padma Talwalkar, Pt Arun Dravid, Pt Madhav Gudi. He has keen interest in tuning theory and applications. He co-created a unique changeable-reed harmonium with Hinge Brothers from Mumbai. Vivek resides and teaches in the Bay Area.

Sri Ravi Gutala: Raviji was initiated at a very early age into Tabla by Shri P.Anjaiah, in Hyderabad, India and has been studying Tabla under Maestro Swapan Chaudhuri at Ali Akbar College since 1990. He has been teaching Tabla in South Bay for the past 20 years. Ravi was recipient of All India National Talent Search Scholarship and was a regular performer at AIR, Hyderabad. He has accompanied many noted artistes such as, Pt.Jasraj, Dr Balamurali Krishna, Smt.Lakshmi Shankar, Dr.L.Subramaniam, Shri Anup Jalota, Master Shashank etc. and has played on 14 CD recordings.

Other performers

Smt Namrata Vartak

Sri Shreyas Vartak (on tabla)

Hari Sivakumar (on tabla)

Arjun Bharadwaj (on flute)

Ishita Kothawade

Rigved Barve

Narendra Joshi (on harmonium)

Sangeethaamsha's origins

During the pandemic, Classical musicians in India were hit hard because the two primary opportunities to make money (live events and teaching) came to a grinding halt. For an art form that thrives in small groups, COVID was particularly devastating.

Originally started by a small group of volunteers, who raised money (in the US) and paid artists in India to hold virtual Zoom concerts for a small audience in the US. Encouraged by feedback from the local community, a small group of volunteers formally incorporated Sangeethaamsha as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2022. Sign up to our newsletter at sangeethaamsha.com to learn more.

Our goal now is to nurture, educate, produce, or provide access to a variety of arts experiences encompassing the visual, media, or performing arts, with particular intent to promote the rich heritage of the Classical Hindustani music to the young members of the community as well as the mainstream population in the U.S. Founded and operated by a group of volunteers from Silicon Valley, CA and the greater San Francisco area,

Our performances are typically organized in the “Baithak” style, which provides an intimate exchange of experience between the artist and the performer. This style elevates appreciation of the music, accelerates learning, and importantly, helps interpret artist’s musical expression.

We also hold free-workshops and invite visiting guests, teachers, and artists to perform in intimate venues.

Guru Purnima Baithak 2023

Sangeethaamsha is back with a morning baithak on the occasion of Guru Purnima on Sunday July 30th, between 8:30 AM and 11:30AM, in Belmont