In Brief ----------------------------------------------------------------- Student group brings sarangi to Homewood In this country, a person could so easily go through life and never know the haunting music of a sarangi. This Indian stringed instrument, a distant cousin to the violin, is one of the most difficult in the world to master and is played by only a handful of musicians. But next Monday evening, the Homewood campus will have a rare opportunity to hear the sarangi performed by one of the finest sarangi musicians in the world. Smt. Aruna Kalle will perform, accompanied by Shri. Balakrishna Iyer on the Tabla at 8 p.m. on April 29, in the Arellano Theater. The concert is free and is presented by the Johns Hopkins chapter of the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth. For the past three years, the Hopkins group has brought classical Indian dance and music performances to campus, serving to introduce Western audiences to a different style of classical music, to keep alive some declining art forms and to fill a void experienced by many Indian students and faculty here who are far from home. "In India, the music and culture are all around you, on the TV, the radio, everywhere, and at home, you don't find yourself thinking about it at all," said Sekhar Pisupati, a chemical engineering graduate student. "But when you are in a Western country like the United States, and you suddenly have none of it, you tend to feel that something is missing." Many of the people attending the concerts, said Pisupati, are graduate students from India, savoring a taste of the classical music and dance that they used to be able to take for granted. But now the group is hoping to reach out to people of all backgrounds, especially students. "To me it makes sense that people from Peabody, or anyone that loves music, would be interested in this," he said. "The sarangi is a beautiful instrument but a dying art form. Even if someone's background is in Western classical music, they would still benefit from attending these concerts." And we may never have the chance to hear the instrument played by a master again. The sarangi, an ancient North Indian bowed instrument is considered one of the most difficult to master. For that reason, it has remained relatively undeveloped and mostly used as a background accompanying instrument for vocal music. Aruna Kalle is the daughter of the renowned sarangi maestro Pandit Ram Narayan, the famous Indian musician who singlehandedly brought the sarangi into the mainstream of that country's performing arts. His daughter and pupil is the only well-known woman player of the instrument. All SPICMACAY concerts, lectures and programs are free. For more information, call Dilip at (410)235-5266. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- True picture of Islam is subject of library exhibit The Muslim Students Association and the Graduate Muslim Students are the sponsors of an exhibit titled "Through the Eyes of Islam's Five Pillars," which runs through May 17 at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. "Most of the time what we hear about Islam is controversial," said F. Betul Altug, who helped organize the exhibit. "The idea was to give a true picture of Islam." The exhibit includes samples of Tezhib (old Turkish art) and writings, selected passages from the Qur'an and written interpretations of certain beliefs. A demographic map of the United States shows California as the state most populated by Muslims. Maryland is in the top 10, Altug said. "The message [of religion] is always the same, which is God's original message: try to be helpful to other people and try to act righteously," Altug said. The exhibit also includes photos of members of the Muslim community by Washington, D.C., photographer Fareed H. Nu'Man. The photos, Altug said, illustrate the five principles of Islam: declaration of faith, prayer, charity, fasting during Ramadan and pilgrimage to Mecca. -----------------------------------------------------------------