Thane: Veteran playback singer Usha Mangeshkar performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed ‘Lata Mangeshkar Sangeet Gurukul’ (LMSG) which will come up in Mira Road town, here on Wednesday.
The music academy, which will be a traditional Indian ‘Gurukul-style’, is being constructed at the Ideal Park area of the town, and will be the first of its kind coming up in memory of the late Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar.
Usha Mangeshkar is the youngest of the Mangeshkar siblings and present on the occasion Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sanjay Katkar and legislators Geeta Jain and Pratap Sarnaik.
The LMSG will come up in a ground-plus two storied building, with a musical theme based architecture, spread across some 25,000 sq feet.
It will be divided into sections for Classical Music, Singing, and training in Indian Musical Instruments like harmonium, flute, sitar, tabla, etc., under the guidance of renowned artistes and Gurus.
The music academic modules would be designed keeping in mind professional music courses that are available with certifications from recognised music colleges/universities, and it will also tie-up with top institutions to conduct professional examinations.
The Maharashtra government will allot Rs 25-crore for the music academy and the funds shall be disbursed in phases through the MBMC as per the progress of the construction.
The foundation-laying on Wednesday was followed by a musical extravaganza, ‘Lata Yug’ in which prominent artists like Datta Mistry, Dhanashri Desphande, Sonali Karnik, Nirupama Dey, Radhika Nanday and others rendered some of the most memorable and evergreen songs of the legendary Lata Didi.
(IANS)
