2013-03-04 18:19:10 - Idea Jalsa – Music for the soul, would be conducting its 50th onground event in Coimbatore, featuring a concert programme by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute) & Abhishek Raghuram (Carnatic Vocal) at Krishna Hall, Sri Krishna Institutions, Kuniamuthur, on March 3, 2013 from 6.30 p.m. As India’s only travelling festival, Idea Jalsa has emerged as the largest concert tour of Indian Music featuring over 50 genres of Music, with over 100 artistes across 12 cities, and covering about 30,000 audiences collectively across the venues, would be. The entry is free.

Durga Jasraj, Founder and Director, Art & Artistes, the conceptualizer and producer of the Idea Jalsa project, said, “The concert at Coimbatore is our 50th onground concert, and the journey has been quite encouraging thanks to audiences like you all who have come in large numbers and patronized not only the concept, but Indian Music in general. Our endeavour is to showcase Indian music across cities by providing a platform for audiences to discover the treasures of Indian Music that has a rich legacy, and versatility unparalleled. The challenge -- presenting your own traditions in a manner that's contemporary and relevant, and making the youth connect to their own culture and music

Idea Jalsa is a unique festival that not only

travels to cities, unlike other festivals that is held at a single venue, in a city over the years, but will also be webcast live on www.youtube.com/indianmusicforsoul and on www.facebook.com/JalsaMusicForTheSouls thus enabling audiences across the globe to soak in the experience of great performances of the artistes. The multi-media platform for all forms of Indian music, commenced the concert tour from Vishakaptanam on January 20, Shantiniketan on Jan 30, Patna on February 1, Varanasi on February 9, Udaipur on February 15, Chandigarh on February 17, Agra on February 21, Surat on Feb 27, and travels to cities like, Bhopal, Bangalore and Mumbai over the next 21 days.

Mr. Srinivas M, Circle Head - Tamil Nadu at Idea Cellular, said "Idea has always endeavoured to entertain and enthrall its audience with Music and other forms of entertainment. We are now happy to bring 'Idea Jalsa', the largest platform for different genres of Indian music, close to you to enrich your musical experience. In the last six years of our association with Indian Music Academy, we have created a huge repository of Music in different formats, and this time we are taking it a step ahead by getting the legends of Music perform live for you."

Redesigning Aspects of Performing Art, i.e. presentation on stage, styling of clothes, conversing with audiences and getting intimate with them, etc. have become a normal habit since the Jalsa experience. Idea Jalsa has now undisputedly established itself as the single largest platform for all genres of Indian music. Now in the seventh year, Idea Jalsa Concert Tour, features artistes like: Legendary vocalist and doyen of the Mewati Gharana,Padma Vibhushan Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj; Vidwan T.M.Krishan (Carnatic vocal); Vidwan Vikku Vinayakaram; Selva Ganesh; Swaminathan Selvaganesh; Ranjit Rajwada (Ghazals) & Malini Awasthi (Folk); Kakoli Bhattacharya; Anup Jalota (Bhajans); Pt. Rattan Mohan Sharma (Hindustani vocal); Niladri Kumar (Sitar) & Master Saleem (Punjabi Folk and Sufi); Sanjeev Abhyankar (Hindustani vocal); Wadali Brothers (Qawali and Sufi); Instrumental Jugalbandi by S.Aakash (Flute) & Bhaskarnath (Shehnai); Ankita Joshi (Hindustani vocal); Shankar Mahadevan; Abhishek Raghuram (Carnatic Vocal); Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute); Qawwali duet by Jaspinder Narula and Munnawar Masoom; Tabla duet by Rimpa Siva & Master Yashwant; and, Dr. L. Subramanium (Voilin).

Idea Jalsa the largest multimedia presentation of Indian music has provided the Indian music industry with a diverse collection of timeless content and a large repertoire of classical and contemporary Indian music. The diversity of music forms has been challenging, but successfully adapted to various multi-media formats like radio, television, inflight programmes across 8 international airlines. With 104 episodes bank of timeless content, with more than 450 Live Music performances/ tracks, featuring more than 20 languages/ regions, with performances by over 700 Musicians and Artistes, covering more than 55 genres of Indian music. Idea Jalsa that started with one channel, and one slot has now managed to be featured across various channels that includes the terrestrial Doordarshan and many satellite channels.

The journey of Idea Jalsa began in 2006 as a ground concert tour across 39 cities. The show that started with one channel, and one slot has now managed to be featured across various channels across Terrestrial and C & S networks. International telecast on the leading Zee TV network of 165 countries has ensured a world-wide footprint of Jalsa – ensuring that audiences across the world are exposed to Indian Music performances across various genres in a contemporary fashion. The show that achieved a distinction of surpassing 100 million (10 crores) viewers in 2011 is already on the way to achieve 150 million (15 crores) viewers soon.

‘Idea Jalsa – Music for the Soul’ has witnessed enthralling performances by music legends, maestros and star performers from across the world. Leveraging television as a medium, and evolving the format suitable for viewers was the first initiative that was thought of. Use of technology, i.e. LED walls during TV performances, have not just enhanced the overall presentation, but also stepped out of the archaic forms of visual appeal.

Art and Artistes (A & A) is an integrated entertainment and music production company founded by Durga Jasraj. Incorporated in 1999, A&A, has evolved to conceptualize, produce, and execute Music based entertainment solutions across all platforms, e.g. Television, On-ground, Radio, Albums, Mobile, etc. A & A has successfully produced over 50 music albums, 25 TV shows, and more than 300 large scale events across 50 cities in India, & more than 20 countries worldwide.

A&A is a unique Proprietary Content Producer, in the Indian Entertainment Sector, delivering value to Companies by applying Music based solutions for Marketing needs by conceiving & producing content across Mediums, markets proprietary content to emerging sectors (VAS, in-flight, in-room, etc.) & geographies. The company has emerged as the largest producer of indian music content through global multimedia partnerships

Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company, has partnered with this unique Indian Music Project, right from its inception in 2006.

IDEA Cellular is India’s 3rd largest national mobile operator, with over 115 million subscribers. With traffic in excess of a billion minutes a day, Idea ranks among the Top 10 country operators in the world. Using the latest in technology, Idea provides world-class service delivery through the most extensive network of customer touch points. Idea is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational corporation. The group operates in 36 countries, and is anchored by more than 136,000 employees belonging to 42 nationalities. More information on the Company is available at: www.ideacellular.com and on the Group at:www.adityabirla.com