This major exhibition of musical instruments was held in the Lalit Kala Galleries, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, from 21 March to 3 April, 2002. The exhibition was inaugurated by Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bharat Ratna and Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi. A large number of Artistes, scholars and members of the press attended the inauguration.

Nearly 300 musical instruments of classical, folk and tribal origin from the Akademi’s collection were on display. In addition, there were smaller sections of instruments on loan. Among these were instruments developed by Shri Bishan Dass Sharma of Rikhi Ram & Sons. The late Radhika Mohan Mitra’s collection of Sarod was displayed by him student Shri Somajit Dasgupta and instruments used by musicians of the Delhi Gharana were loaned by Shri Ahmed Ali Khan.

Lecture-demonstrations on the making of musical instruments were also held at the exhibition. The lecture demonstration included those by master craftsman including Shri Bishan Dass Sharma and Shri Nokot Khriam, both award winners of Sangeet Natak Akademi. Video – recordings captured the entire process of manufacturing several traditional instruments. A listing of the lecture-demonstrations follows :

Dr. L. Tandon (Imphal) : Instruments of Manipur and Tabla, Tanpura etc. ; Shri Vadan Ruidas and group (Burdwan) : Adivasi Instruments of Jungle Mahal Area like banam Huki, Banshi ; Shri Dulal Kanji and two sons (Kolkata) : Sarod ; Shri Suguna Ram Bhopa and five helpers (Rajasthan) : Sarangi ; Kamaicha, Ravan Hattha : Shri Somjit Dasgupta (Kolkata) : collection of six instruments from Late Radhika Mohan Moitra (Like Mohan Veena, Dhrupadi Rabab) Shri Rajesh Dhawan (Meerut) : Classical Sarangi ; Shri Bishan Das Sharma, (Delhi) : 11 contemporary (string) innovative instruments ; Dr. Prasanna Gogoi (Guwahati) : Instruments from Assam (Pepa, Sutuli, Gagana, Tukari) ; Shri VV Narayanan (Trissur): Chenda ; Shri Kothavil Raman Kutty (Kerala): Iddakka ; Shri Nokot Khriam (Meghalaya) : Drums, Duitara, Clappers, Flutes ; Shri Sharafat Majid (Miraj) and three helpers : Tanpura ; Shri P. Mahalingam (Thanjavur) : Thanjavur Veena ; Shri T.K. Rama Achari (Distt. Nagari) : Nagaswaram.

The experts were Dr. Suneera Kasliwal, Dr. Dayashree Banerjee, Dr. Helen Giri, Shri N. Srinivasan, Dr. Leela Omcheri and Shri P.L. Pawar.