Photo: Rupa Kotecha.

Ravi & Shashi Bellare Arts Foundation

Indian classical music

About the Organization

The Ravi & Shashi Bellare Arts Foundation memorializes and implements the rich legacies of Pandits Taranath Rao, Ravi and Shashi Bellare. It’s larger purview includes the stewardship, preservation, and presentation of the Indian classical arts: vocal music, dance, instrumental music, and the percussive arts, specifically the tabla, as a solo and as a accompanying instrument.

The foundation continues the tradition of passing the knowledge and proficiency of the Indian classical arts to the younger generations. Their activities include: holding intimate concerts, tabla pedagogy and presentations, which include audio and video documentation, as well as a platform for younger artists to showcase their art. The organization also curates exhibitions of Indian visual arts and musical performance for Southern California audiences, most notably through the annual Festival of Tabla.

Living Cultures Grant

2019 and 2020

The Foundation received the Living Cultures grant to support the annual Festival of Tabla event. The Festival of Tabla aims to bring together the solo tabla performance along with its age-old repertoire of original compositions which date back to the 16th century, and the oral tradition of ancient rhythmic shlokas (poetry). Our festival seeks to nurture the preservation of these ancient South Asian arts with the hope that a younger generation of tabla artists can learn and absorb the historical and cultural legacies that accompany this tradition.

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