About 'Tarang - From Ripples to Revolution'

Tarang - a classical music concert for people with special needs was started in Chennai four years ago. It was brought to Bangalore in August 2014 and we have been since then conducting a concert every two months in public auditoriums for people with special needs. Artists like Bombay Jayashree, Trichur Brothers, Prakash Sonatakke, Anil Srinivasan have featured in Tarang in Chennai and Bangalore. The funds raised through this campaign will be used for the concerts conducted in Bangalore.

Tarang was started with the following objectives:

i) to use the therapeutic and healing power of Indian Classical Music and imbibe it deeply as a part of special education
ii) to provide space/ time to the children and their families where they could get some entertainment, however, ensuring that the music was healing the children
iii) to take the children out of their schools and homes, the only places that they are generally confined to, and attempt at creating awareness to help the society accept people with special needs with an open mind

Have the objectives been achieved?

We have been closely observing the impact that Tarang has brought about in various sections of the society and few of them are listed below:

On children

i) Carnatic and Hindustani music appealed to the children in a very large way – they started adding thalam to the songs
ii)Human voice as opposed to digitized music has a soothing effect – children with sensory issues respond faster to teacher’s singing or listening to live music
iii) Restless students calmed down – sitting tolerance improved up to an hour
iv) Travel to auditorium helped them improve their life skills of travel, waiting, walking in a line, maintaining discipline, etc
v) Better conduct and handling of oneself when in group

On parents

i) Parents began affirming about the capacity of their child to be a part of the society like all others
ii) Increase in confidence levels in the parents about social involvement of their child

On society

i) Artists became sensitive to the cause and issue
ii) Artists interaction with the children led to children experiencing various instruments themselves which opened up a new world for them
iii) Involvement of communities who were invited to attend the concert brought about more aware about the issue
iv) The staff at the auditoriums and volunteers became more open towards the cause

How the funds would be utilized?

Funds to pay the auditoriums, artists, hospitality arrangement for the artists, for the sound system, to organize transport facility for some of the children to help them reach the venue. We expect to conduct five concerts in a year and the budgeted expense is Rs 20,000 for each of the concert.

Please note that the donations are eligible for tax exemptions.