Geetanjali
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 | This article contains promotional content. (October 2008) |
| This article possibly contains original research. (October 2008) |
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Geetanjali is a long standing American radio program on WWUH and [1] at the University of Hartford. It is the longest running radio program in the USA featuring music from India that is both lyrical and exciting in composition. It offers a new dimension in musical appreciation for the Indian fan and Western listener alike, including classical, contemporary, devotional and Bollywood music. It has been serving the needs of Indian listeners by providing wholesome entertainment for more than twenty-seven years.
Jawaharlal Nehru once said that wherever Indians go they take a little piece of India with them. Geetanjali is such an effort to maintain cultural identity through music.
Origin
Geetanjali originated in 1977. The concept was initiated with WWUH by Vinod Gadhia, the then president of India Association of Greater Hartford. Rajas Rangnekar hosted the programme for a few months as a half hour taped show, broadcast 8:00-8:30 PM every Friday.
Father of Geetanjali
Vijay Dixit, known as the father of Geetanjali, took over Geetanjali in 1978 and presented the program for the next 20 years. Dixit displayed an unquenched passion, strong commitment and undying dedication in realizing his futuristic vision for Geetanjali that gave the program its distinct identity and made the program the pioneer radio program of music of India not only in Greater Hartford but in the United States.
Dixit fondly reminisces:
- “My first show was in the spring of 1978 and later that year I started to do it live and injected a cultural flavor by adding special shows on major religious and national festivals, and current affairs that impacted India and the United States. Driven by tremendous community support, I was able to increase the show length to full one hour and later to 90 minutes. At that time I introduced a regular classical segment to the show which became extremely popular with the non-Indian audiences. There were suggestions that I do the show in Hindi, but I continued with the English medium mixed with Hindi nuances to preserve Geetanjali's distinctive identity."
- Over the years, a number of important luminaries appeared as guests on Geetanjali, live or in recorded interviews. Among them were former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Morarji Desai, all the Indian ambassadors to USA 1980-2000, starting with the late Nani Palkiwala, P. N. Kaul, K. R. Narayanan, Abid Hussain and Naresh Chandra, US Congressman Steven Solarz. Deepak Vohra from the Embassy of India in Washington was a regular guest during the turbulent eighties. I remember that was the time I was threatened by terrorist groups and University of Hartford and WWUH provided me personal on-campus security for protection.”
- There were numerous artists who appeared on the show. To name a prominent few, Manna Dey, Bismillah Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ananda Shankar, Rohini Hathangiri and L. Subramanian.”
Dixit retired when he had to move to Minneapolis in 1998 but continues to be an integral part of Geetanjali today as an advisor, guide and supporter.
A man of substance who never talked frivolously, he cherishes those memories with a sense of pride and nostalgia. In his own words,
- “There were certainly more pleasant moments for me than the unpleasant ones, and I continue to cherish those memoirs with pride and nostalgia.”
Successors
Kapil Taneja started as a fill in host of Geetanjali in 1984. Dixit was the primary host of Geetanjali and Kapil provided help whenever Dixit needed time off.
This arrangement continued through 1997. Taneja took over the weekly broadcast of Geetanjali when Dixit retired from Geetanjali in 1997. Kapil was active at the radio station until 2002 and brought in Ms. Monica as a host and also recruited Mr Anand Shukla.
Taneja continues be a strong supporter of Geetanjali and WWUH in the Greater Hartford Community. He is a strong believer in the role Geetanjali plays in the lives of first generation Indians and American citizens with an interest in Indian culture, living in the Greater Hartford area. Geetanjali not only entertains, but also informs the listeners about Indian theme events in the area and educates listeners about Indian culture and Indian American issues.
Geetanjali: then and now
Geetanjali enjoyed a glorious status in the past. Although reaping the benefit of its success even today, frankly speaking, Geetanjali has deviated from the path and the goals it set out to achieve: To act as a cultural window to India through the medium of music with a primary purpose of providing wholesome entertainment. Of late, Geetanjali has become a synonym of popular music and more specifically Bollywood music mainly because there is a huge listener base for this type of music. There is so much abundance and variety of Indian music and it is unfortunate it is not exploited fully. The listener base is for Indian classical music that Dixit worked so hard to build is falling.
Tagore said once, “The muffled foot-steps of the past beat in our blood.” Muffled by some not so bright patches in the history of the last 27 years, it is those foot-steps which need to be heard again.