Flute festival comes to Delhi

The World Flute Festival, to be held in Delhi this August, will introduce the concept of ‘flute therapy’
It’s perhaps for the first time that a music festival is being planned, centred on a sole musical instrument. But, organisers of the Raasrang World Flute Festival feel that the instrument, one of the oldest in the world, must be given its due, especially in the country where it is so intrinsically associated with mythology, religion and culture.The three-day festival, which takes place in Delhi, Vrindavan, Kolkata and Trivandrum, will talk about the need to protect this instrument, says Arun Budhiraja of Krishna Prerna, the foundation that is organising the festival.
Budhiraja also says that the fest will see an experimental concept being introduced to some of the top CEOs of the country. “I’ve been working on a concept called flute therapy, which is intended to provide therapeutic treatment to medical patients. It’ll be like a doctor’s flute, which can be used to help patients de-stress, as well as have a calming and balming effect on them. For instance, we can play the flute to cardiac patients. During the fest, in association with the CII, we will launch flute therapy for CEOs, and we’re hoping to take this therapy to corporates across the country after that. We’re trying to speak to Dr Trehan as well as several doctors from the New York about this,” says Budhiraja.
The festival, which will take place in Delhi from August 9-11, will head to Kolkata and Trivandrum on August 12. In Delhi, it’ll take place at the Lotus Temple, and will be accompanied by an exhibition called India on Flute. As part of the announcement of the fest, designer Nida Mahmood presented a ‘designed’ flute to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, which is now up for a global auction, with a base price of `5 lakh. Padma Vibhushan Chaurasia was the chief guest at the announcement of the festival.