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On its 15th anniversary, the Austin chapter of Association for India’s Development (AID) is excited to announce a fundraising concert featuring Padma Vibhushan Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Panditji, who is universally regarded as the maestro of the bansuri, or the bamboo flute, will be performing at the Westlake Community Performing Arts Center on September 8th, 2012 at 5:00pm. For 45 years, Panditji has enthralled listeners with his soulful, meditative music that combines both tradition and improvisation. He has been a recipient of numerous awards of national and international recognition. These include the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (1983), India’s highest award, in recognition of his contribution to performing arts, the Padma Vibhushan (2000), India’s second highest civilian award for exceptional and distinguished service to the nation, the Dinanath Mangeshkar Award (2000), the Konark Samman (1992) and others. He has also been honored by the Dutch royal family and the French Ministry of Culture. Panditji will be accompanied by Pt. Anubrata Chatterjee (son of world-renowned tabla maestro Pt. Anindo Chatterjee) on the tabla, Prasad Bhandarkar (a disciple of Pt. Chaurasia) on the flute and Shyamala Rajender on the tanpura. More information about the concert can be found at: http://austin.aidindia.org/concert. All proceeds will benefit development projects in India supported by AID Austin.

 AID is non-profit organization committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development in India, fully run by volunteers, with over 52 chapters in six countries. AID seeks lives of self-reliance and dignity for thousands of people in India and has supported over 500 projects in the last 20 years. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of charkha (constructive work) and satyagraha (non-violent resistance to injustice), AID works with grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women’s empowerment and social justice.

 The Austin chapter currently has 15 volunteers who meet every week at the UT campus to understand and support a variety of projects.  Some of the current projects supported by AID Austin are Eureka SuperKidz (an innovative education initiative to ensure that quality education reaches children of the poorest families in Tamil Nadu: http://eureka.aidindia.in/), Tiger Watch (mitigating human-wildlife conflict, forming effective anti-poaching networks and rehabilitation of ex-poachers: http://www.tigerwatch.net/) and Utthan (advocacy and leadership training to ensure gender equity in access and ownership of natural resources in Gujarat: http://utthangujarat.org/). AID Austin also supports fellowships for several people (AID Saathis), who work on issues such as environmental protection and organic farming techniques. For more information about AID Austin and its projects, please visit http://austin.aidindia.org.

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