'To understand what a nation stands for requires understanding of its culture'

As an autonomous entity within the government, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is responsible for promoting India's cultural exchanges with other countries. In the past three decades, the ICCR has organised a number of India festivals across the world. The council was a major sponsor of the Kennedy Center’s “maximum India”festival , which concluded in Washington, DC, on Sunday. ET spoke to ICCR director general Suresh Goel during his recent visit to Washington and after he returned right in the middle of an international jazz festival that he has ambitiously initiated . Goel, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1978, was India’s ambassador to Laos, prior to joining ICCR. Edited excerpts:
These days, there is a renewed interest in India, especially in the West. How much of it has to do with India’s growing economic might?

I think there is a much better appreciation of India now. Doubtless , our growing international stature and economic power have got something to do with it. Yes, the world is looking at India in a whole new perspective. Of course, they were always interested in India — we have always been an ideological force in the world. But now we are an economic force as well, a strategic force to be reckoned with.

Do you think the world understands India and the Indian culture better now than, say 20 years ago?

Yes... there is a better understanding of our cultural ethos, there is a better understanding of our thinking, the way we act and what we do, which is clearly indicated in the fact that several American institutions are approaching India now to broaden the economic and intellectual interactions . Universities and institutions such as Georgetown, Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins are all coming together to see how we can broaden our understanding in those fundamental areas, intellectually and academically , which I think is very, very important.

You attended the opening ceremony of ‘maximum India’ festival . It seems to be a new kind of India festival, with a lot of American aspects...

The idea of ‘maximum India’ is to show India in an American way to the American public. I think the opening ceremony was an Americanisation of Indian culture so that people in the US could understand what India is all about. If that was the objective, then they (the Kennedy Center) have succeeded in it entirely.

America’s northern neighbour, Canada, is celebrating the ‘Year of India’ . How different is the festival in Canada?

The philosophy is the same. But the way it is happening there is different from what the Kennedy Center has done. The Kennedy Center (festival) is basically a kind of Indian fiesta, an Indian mela, with several events taking place at the same time. In Canada, it is one after the other. We have over 20 events over several months.

How many India festivals are held at the moment?

This year, we are going to have several festivals. We are going to have them in Brazil, South Korea and Kazakhstan, Egypt and one in Ethiopia to coincide with the India-Africa summit. We are having a festival in South Africa, Kenya and East Europe.

How different are the current festivals from the ones India organised in the 1980s?

In the old festivals, a lot of importance was given to the classical traditions. But in the ongoing festivals, there are a lot of new components. For example, the incorporation of the youth component , the non-classical component — or popular culture component — and the celebration of folk art and folk life. We have added all that to give a more or less comprehensive presentation of the Indian way of life.

ICCR has been planning to launch a centre in Washington. How soon are you going to open that?

We are in the process of renting a property for the cultural center. Once that is finalised, we could start the centre within a few months’ time. It will be a place where creative minds of the two countries can come together, thereby turning it into a hub of creative interaction.

How many such new centres are planned around the world?

We have, at the moment, about 36 centres. Our plan is to increase the number of centres to about 45 this year. We are starting a center in Sao Paulo; we plan to open a center in Toronto, apart from Washington . We several centres now coming up in Europe, Americas and Asia.

There seems to be a new emphasis on cultural projection on India’s part. Is the country’s rising economic clout one of the reasons behind that?

Well, let’s put it this way: to be able to project your culture, you need resources. The rising economic status has given us the capacity to do what we have always wanted to do. But we are doing the cultural projections because the cultural interactions actually reduce the possibility of any misunderstanding. Ultimately , to understand what a nation stands for requires understanding of its culture.

You haven’t rested after your return from Washington and plunged right into the first international jazz festival in Delhi . Will the festival be a travelling one as holding it in Delhi will raise issues of being biased and favouring only one city?

Every major city such as Montreal , London, Stockholm and Edinburgh has a world class Jazz Festival that is not just named after the city but almost defines its cultural ethos. With a truly International Jazz Festival we intend to include Delhi in this list and make it a truly world-class city. For the lovers of music in Delhi this three-day unique International Jazz Festival would be a treat of great music from around the world in the serene environs of the Nehru Park. We dedicate this new festival to the people of Delhi to celebrate the centenary year of New Delhi. Once the festival is established on the cultural calendar in Delhi we could consider some international groups travelling to other cities too.

Will the Nehru Park venue be a permanent one or would you be shifting venues?

The citizens of Delhi seem to have voted in favour of the International Jazz Festival at the beautiful Nehru Park and we could consider making it a permanent venue.

What are the prospects of the jazz festival moving on? ICCR has initiated such projects before like the blues festival that turned out to be one-off events.

The International Jazz Festival will put Delhi on the Jazz map of the world and make it a veritable international cultural destination. It’s not a one off but will become an annual feature on the ICCR’s calendar.

Don’t you think that there will be criticism that you have overlooked homegrown music and gone international unilaterally ? You could have conceived a Hindustani music festival or a Carnatic music festival which would have made sense?

ICCR is engaged in cultural diplomacy by taking India to the world and bringing the world to India. We can’t speak only in one language for connecting culturally with the world. ICCR’s calendar for 60 years has had home-grown Sufi festivals, Thumri festivals, Malhaar Festival, and now we are for the first time speaking the universally accepted language of jazz. Having lived abroad for a long time, I have also realised that our musical reactions are not limited to classical traditions. We (Indians ) look at things with interest . We take a great deal of interest in their genres of music like rock, pop, Jazz and blues. Even AR Rahman’s music has been influenced by jazz. Not only older people, even younger people in India are listening to jazz. I thought a jazz Music Festival would generate interest in India. It is a kind of free-wheeling music that represents freedom.

How do you hope to bring in the masters of of jazz like Wynton Marsallis or Branford Marsallis or even the Indian who is the current jazz guru in the US, Vijay Iyer? Any thoughts...

Rome wasn’t built in a day and ICCR’s International Jazz Festival would through a process of evolution get bigger and better. That will help attract the best jazz talent in the world and they will then include Delhi on their busy itinerary.


Asif Ismail in Washington/GIN
Features and Manoj Nair
in New Delhi