MUMBAI: With an aim to offer courses on music and musical instrument, a new musical institute Vishwashanti Sangeet Kala Academy was inaugurated in Loni Kalbhor which is situated around Pune. The inauguration was done by Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar on the festive occasion of Gudi Padwa on 11 April.

Except for singer Asha Bhosale, the event was attended by all the Mangeshkar siblings Usha Mangeshkar, Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Meena Khadikar.  Others personality present to grace the event were sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Babasaheb Purandare, Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Annasaheb Dange and Karve Guruji. The event started off with Gayatri mantra in Lata didi’s voice.

MIT group of institutes executive director Mangesh Karad, who has not only conceptualized but also designed the architecture of the Academy, said it was the fulfillment of Raj Kapoor's dream that an educational institute be set up on the land where he had shot many of his films.

In addition to Indian instruments, students of the Academy can learn musical instruments from 160 countries. Classes, which are open to students as young as seven years, are expected to begin from the first week of August.

The secretary general of the new institution Adinath Mangeshkar described music as, ‘ the pinnacle of spirituality’. Offering a glimpse of the courses to be offered by the Academy, Mangeshkar said that its objective was to help in the conservation and propogation of Indian music.