Music Basti began with a team of dedicated volunteers and teaching-artists from Delhi to promote the twin ideals of “music for all” and “music for education”.

Promoting arts and music that extended outside elite consumption and production was seen as an important towards a fuller understanding in India of the educational and developmental benefits of music.

The following are the highlights of the Pilot Phase:

• Communication and assessment with local NGOs in the Delhi region to assess the need for lifeskills based education and music. Selection of “Dil Se” Campaign of Aman Biradari and Center for Equity Studies. “Uma Pandey” Home for Boys,  Shastri Nagar, North Delhi,housing 70 boys, was selected as the center for implementation of programs.
• Identification and selection of young teaching artists/ musicians and volunteers, their motivation and training in the planning and implementation of programs.
• 25 music interaction and exposure workshops were organized with an outreach to the 70 children at the center.
• Over 30 artists and/or bands and volunteers were a part of the program activities.
• Documentation was carried out through the creation of a short film, ‘Music Basti’ (15 minutes) for awareness and sensitization purposes, to screen in colleges/schools/festivals/ and other.
• A public event was hosted to launch the film and photography documentation, with a concert by Delhi based band “Advaita”, at India Habitat Center, September 27, 2008.
• Collaboration on a public event in March 2009 with Delhi based youth organization, The YP Foundation’s “Blending Spectrum Festival” showcased an original performance organized by Music Basti, where 50 children performed a song composed for the event. This event was hosted at India Habitat Center, supported by The Global Fund for Children.

Photo by Shiv Ahuja