![Poster for the event "One Hundred Strings: Understanding South Asia Through Music & History"](/sites/default/files/styles/webp_600/public/2024-08/Event%203.jpg.webp?itok=92Mkl4RL)
One Hundred Strings is a collaboration between musicians Nirmala Rajasekar, Sandip Chatterjee, Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi, and Ramdas Palsule that highlights the diversity of music and culture within India and fosters cultural connections within the South Asian diaspora of the United States. The four musicians each comes from a different ethnic region of India and plays a distinct regional instrument. These instruments include the veena, an ancient plucked lute central to the Carnatic classical tradition of South India; the santoor, the hammered dulcimer of the Silk Road trade routes between Europe and Asia; the mridangam, an indigenous drum of the Southern Indian peninsula; and the tabla, a drum born of cultural exchange between Persian and Sanskrit cultures in Mughal India. the American Composers
Four master musicians – Nirmala Rajasekar (veena), Sandip Chatterjee (santoor), Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi (mridangam), and Ramdas Palsule (tabla) – come together to create the One Hundred Strings collaboration, representing the Hindustani, Carnatic, cross-cultural, and indigenous traditions of South Asia. With a combined 150 years of performing experience, the artists bring a wealth of musicological, historical, and cultural knowledge to this unique collaboration of veena, santoor, tabla, and mridangam. Between them the artists have appeared at Carnegie Hall, the United Nations (New York), Royal Albert Hall (UK), the Rumi International Festival (Turkey), Theater de la Ville, Sydney Opera House (Australia), and Sawai Gandharva (India).
Since immigrating to the U.S. 30 years ago, Nirmala Rajasekar has been using the veena, the national instrument of India, to advocate for the representation of non-Western artists in art, cultural, and organizing institutions. Nirmala Rajasekar has served as Chairperson of the American Composers Forum since 2020 and has worked with a wide variety international poets, dancers, and other artists of all mediums.