Description:

Hosted by the Buffett Institute’s Race, Caste and Colorism Global Working Group, visiting scholar and artist-in-residence S. Anand is an Indian author, publisher and journalist. He co-founded  Navayana Publishing, an independent anti-caste publishing house based in Delhi, India. He is also a performer of Hindustani classical music, infusing the form with anti-caste lyrics drawn from the teachings of Buddha and the poetry of Kabir.

Join us for a performance by S. Anand at his concert on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the South Asia Institute (1925 S. Michigan Ave.) in Chicago. A student of legendary Indian classical Dhrupad vocalist Ustad F. Wasifuddin Dagar, S. Anand will present a unique program of Buddhist suttas in a bouquet of ragas, and see how they speak to Kabir and Babasaheb Ambedkar in establishing the norm, or Sa, of equality. The concert will be followed by a short Q&A with S. Anand and Pranathi Diwakar, a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago researching social inequality, music and media practices, and caste distinctions in urban India.