KTRU Celebrates 25 Years of its South Asian Music Show *Navrang* with Free Concert

By Sreyas Menon

HOUSTON: KTRU Rice University Radio will celebrate 25 years of its Navrang specialty show from 5 to 7 PM on Sunday, September 10, with a free concert, Swar Yatra – A Musical Journey. Navrang (meaning “nine colors” in Hindi) show on KTRU treats listeners to the beauty of South Asian music with its variety of flavors.  

Established in 1992 and airing every Saturday from 10 to noon, the Navrang show has grown to be one of KTRU’s most popular specialty shows. The show has featured interviews almost once a month with several prominent artists within the vast realm of South Asian music. Just a few of these artists are Padmabhushan ghazal singer Shri Jagjit Singh, folk artist Praful Dave and award winning Indian documentary film director, Anant Patwardhan.

The Navrang show’s director is Varsha Vakil. Varsha joined the Navrang show in 2008. And in 2009 she already planned KTRU’s first Navrang concert, with the goal of bringing together the Houston community to experience live South Asian music for free on Rice University campus. The concert featured Rice engineering alumnus Dr. Shankar Bhattacharyya performing on sarode and Sri Gourishankar performing on tabla. Each year since, KTRU has invited the community onto Rice’s campus for the Navrang concert. It was Varsha’s vision to provide a platform for local South Asian musicians to showcase their talent and to reach new audiences.  

This year’s concert features Indian Fusion, classical instrumental and vocal music, taking the audience on a musical journey across the Indian subcontinent. The concert will take place at the Grand Hall in the Rice Memorial Center. Doors open at 4 PM and free henna and tea will be available until the concert’s start at 5 PM. After the concert ends at 7 PM, the audience can meet artists and enjoy free Indian vegetarian cuisine. Parking is free at “West Lot 2” with the code word “ktru”.

KTRU thanks the concert sponsors: Hindus of Greater Houston, South Asian Youth Alliance, Daya, Indian American Cancer Network, India Culture Center, ISKCON, Maharaja Bhog, Udipi Cafe, Govinda’s, and Deep Foods. KTRU would also like to express its gratitude to its media partners: Masala Radio, KPFT and GenerAsian Radio.