Excellency award for sitar maestro

Noted sitar meastro, music therapist and creative musician from the holy town of Vrindaban, Dr. Acharya Trigunateet Jaimini, who was in the city to perform at the recently concluded 16th International Theatre Olympiad at KVK Auditorium, was felicitated with the prestigious National Excellency Award-2008 for his outstanding contribution in the field of Indian classical music and extensive research on transcendental and therapeutic music.

Dr. Jaimini, a professor of music at Mangalayatan University, Aligarh had brought twelve of his university students to participate in the Olympiad. They took part in two dramas, Jwala and Saari Raat in which Dr. Jaimini orchestrated the background score for the plays. Jwala, a famous play by renowned Bengali film director of yesteryears, Ritwik Ghatak bagged the third prize in the drama competition. On the penultimate day of the theatre olympiad, Dr. Jaimini also set the background score for a play performed by foreign actors on the request of veteran thespian and founder-secretary of India Theatre Olympiad, Prof. Kartik Ch. Rath.

Hailing from a illustrious family of musicians, child Jaimini has had her first music lessons from his musician mother Geeta Devi who also accompanied him on the tabla on stage when he was barely three. He is also a worthy disciple of saint-musician late Swami D R Parvatikar who was also the music teacher of former president Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

Dr. Jaimini, now only 33, has already several prestigious honours and awards to his credit. He has also published seminal research papers on transcendental music therapy, performing music and musicology. But he came into limelight last year after his ground-breaking research on 'music therapy for integrated healing' and 'scoring live background music for fashion shows'.

Experimenting classical music for music therapy for over a decade, Dr. Jaimini has been organising music meditation camps at various cities in North India. His work has been focussed on interlinking the diseases with particular raga which could provide instant nirvana. He has produced over 5,000 music compositions in this regard.

An M.A. in five subjects and Ph.D in music, Dr. Jaimini has worked hard for several years to develop a brand of contemporary fusion music to provide appropriate background scores for Indian art galleries and fashion shows, particularly those showcasing traditional Indian attires. The innovative scores, developed jointly by him and an Italian guitarist and spiritualist, D. Turi, have already been orchestrated in various international shows.

Dr. Jaimini feels it is necessary to create the right ambience with the right kind of music during fashion shows. He adds, "Our music is not customised. We take up projects--either art or ramp shows, study the display and the exhibits and then decide on the kind of music they require as background highlights". He further explains, "Right now, in the absence of such music, we often depend on Western scores while displaying Indian ethnic wear. It contradicts the essence of the show. The scores that I have created will add to the overall attraction of the events."

Last year, both of them had released a therapy series of audio CDs called 'Music of Life' to treat a variety of diseases.

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