CM Shinde inaugurates Mumbai's new music college; AR Rahman, Zakir Hussain part of the board

Mumbai: The "Bharat Ratna Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar International Music College & Museum" was officially opened at the Kalina Campus of Mumbai University on Wednesday, the 93rd birth anniversary of the late singer Lata Mangeshkar.

The government has established a 14-member expert advisory group that was chaired by Hridaynath Mangeshkar and included Usha Mangeshkar, Adinath Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, Mayuresh Pai, Zakir Hussain, A.R. Rahman, and other notable figures in the music world.

The University will offer the first six certificate courses of one year each in Hindustani classical music, Indian flute, tabla, sitar, harmonium/keyboard, and sound engineering will be launched with an initial intake of 150 students.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the college before a large crowd of ministers, politicians, and musicians, including Usha Mangeshkar, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Meena Khadilkar, Adinath Mangeshkar, Ashok Patki, Sonu Nigam, Anup Jalota, Pankaj Udas, Mayuresh Pai, Taufiq Qureshi, Lalit Pandit among others.

Campus in Kalina?

The Maharashtra government gave the music college a 7,000 square meter property owned by the Directorate of Libraries in the Kalina campus of Mumbai University for the music college.

However, Shinde has stated that the institution would temporarily operate from the PL Deshpande Academy, in Prabhadevi, until it acquired its own structure and other amenities.

In honour of her father, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar, Lata Mangeshkar wanted to establish a music institution, and former minister Aditya Thackeray of the Maha Vikas Aghadi administration had shown her a plot of land, which she liked.