“An idea originates and finds someone through whom it can manifest itself. That fortunate someone, experiences during the birth process, a feeling which is beyond description. Imagine for a moment that you are witnessing the creation of the universe.”

The “big bang” of SPIC MACAY came in 1972 at a concert of Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York that was attended by our founder Dr Kiran Seth as a doctoral student at Columbia University. That one concert had a deep impact on his mind that left an indelible mark.

After a few sporadic concerts (notable amongst them was that of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) at Columbia University, New York, under the aegis of the India Club of Columbia University, during the period 1972-76, the idea of this movement took a more defined direction in 1977 in India when Dr Kiran Seth started teaching at IIT Delhi. The first attempt was made in 1978 by his class of MEFORG (Mechanical Engineering Final Year Operations Research Group) where the renowned Dagar Brothers were invited for a concert to IITD that was attended by just a handful of people.

However in 1979, a two-day programme at IIT Delhi of Ustad Bismillah Khan, Dagar Bandhu, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Sitahid Parvez turned out to be better than the last one and was a marginal success. This time it was MEFYS (Mechanical Engineering Final Year Students) who had organized that programme. It was at this programme that the name SPIC MACAY was first launched and the aim expressed was not to fight Westernisation but the process of deculturisation.

The first ever lecture-demonstration series, LEC-DEM’79, was also conducted in the same year when six Delhi based artistes - Pandit Birju Maharaj, Smt.Sonal Mansingh, Ustad Asad Ali Khan, Dagar Bandhu and Ustad Munnawar Ali Khan - gave three presentations at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (Godavari Hostel), Lady Irwin College and Miranda House respectively.

The name ‘FEST’ for the annual festival was first used in 1980 and FEST ‘80 was conducted in a number of educational institutions all over Delhi. Fest’81 took SPIC MACAY out of Delhi for the first time, to Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, and Kharagpur. In 1982, the first lecture-demonstration series in schools was conducted when Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, and Smt. Sonal Mansingh gave three lec-dems each at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya & Ramjas School no.3 in New Delhi. From here SPIC MACAY started spreading to Schools and colleges all over the country.

1986 saw the introduction of folk arts & crafts into the gamut of SPIC MACAY. The scholarship scheme also began in 1986 to help give students a glimpse into the age-old Guru-Shishya tradition. This was also the year that the first annual convention, was held at Hyderabad.

In 1988 the first SPIC MACAY concert was conducted abroad when Pt. Jasraj sang at the University of Connecticut at Harford, USA. ‘THE EYE’ Magazine, was first released in 1991 as a thought provoking ‘written word movement’, for the youth. In 1993, the first schools convention was held at Delhi Public School, R.K Puram.

Virasat, a festival comprising performances, workshops in folk, classical arts, literature, theatre, cinema, yoga and other areas of our heritage was launched for the first time in Dehradun in the year 1995.

The Growth

The movement caught the imagination of the young and began to grow geographically and numerically. While on the one hand, the idea had to be painstakingly introduced in minor doses, on the other, there was a clamouring for the programmes in schools and colleges. A combination of both has resulted in network of over 200 centers in India and abroad. About 5000 events are conducted yearly.