Bangalore Gayana Samaja is one of the oldest cultural organization in Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

 and was established in the year 1905. The organization various Indian forms of Indian music such as Carnatic music

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

, Hindustani music

Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

, devotional, light music, Harikathe, folk music

Indian folk music

Indian folk music is diverse because of India's vast cultural diversity. It has many forms including bhangra, lavani, dandiya and Rajasthani. The arrival of movies and pop music weakened folk music's popularity, but cheaply recordable music has made it easier to find and helped revive the traditions...

 and theatre along with various Indian dance forms such as Bharatanatya, Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi is a Classical Indian dance form Andhra Pradesh, India. It is also popular all over South India. Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Divi Taluka of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the...

, Kathak

Kathak

Kathak is one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh, India. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or storytellers...

, Kathakali

Kathakali

Kathakali is a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion...

, Chau, Odissi

Odissi

Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...

 and Manipuri

Manipuri dance

Manipuri dance is one of the major Indian classical dance forms. It originates from Manipur, a state in north-eastern India on the border with Myanmar . In Manipur, surrounded by mountains and geographically isolated at the meeting point of the orient and mainland India, the form developed its own...

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History

The organization was founded in the year 1905 and celebrated its centenary in the year 2005. K. Ramachandra Rao, who was the headmaster of the London Mission High school in Bangalore was one of the key persons responsible for the formation of Gayana Samaja. During the initial years, music concerts organized by the Gayana samaja were held either at the Ekamabara Sauji Hall or at the hall of London Mission High school. During the early 1920s, the venue was changed to the old Sanskrit college building. The initial location of the Gayana samaja was in a rented building in Chamarajapete.

In the year 1926, the Samaja was moved to Shankaraiah Hall, which was specifically built for the Gayana Samaja. It was only in the year 1962, that the Gayana Samaja moved to its present location on K.R.Road. It was M.S. Subbulakshmi's personal contribution and funds collected out of her benefit concerts that increased the reserves enormously to see the building take shape. The present building housing the Gayana Samaja was built in various stages. The main auditorium

Auditorium

An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...

 and the stage were built as part of the first stage of construction. The front foyer, additional balcony in the auditorium and caretakers quarters were built in later stages. The auditorium of the Gayana Samaja has been recently renovated to improve the acoustics

Acoustics

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...

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Events

Bangalore Gayana Samaja has regular events such as the annual conference of members, musical demonstrations, lectures and concerts. Renowned musicians are honured with the title Sangeeta Kalarathna during the annual conference. In addition to this Composer's day event to pay respects to renowned composers of Carnatic music.

Publications

Gayana Samaja publishes a monthly journal, Gayana Samrajya which contains reports of the various activities of the samaja. A book on the history of the Gayana Samaja has also been published. The samaja is also working on publishing a Compendium of compositions of various composers of Indian classical music.