Laxminarayan Garg A Life Devoted To 'Sangeet'

Editing a 66-page monthly magazine devoted to music,without a break, for 62 years—without financial support or sponsorship of any kind, and without advertising revenue—must be a world record.

- Sakuntala Narasimhan

In 2010 Sangeet, the magazine in Hindi, marked its 75th anniversary, while editor Dr. Laxminarayan Garg celebrated his own 75th birthday in 2007. The Garg family’s dedication to the propagation of music has put the small, obscure town of Hathras (near Aligarh, in U.P.) from where it is published, on the musical map of India through its regular coverage of not only classical Hindustani music but also folk music, film music and dance (all forms and traditions including Bharatanatyam, and obscure folk dance traditions of India on the verge of vanishing). One issue of 1963 was devoted entirely to Carnatic music (including descriptions of 1001 ragas, notation, talas, forms like chauka varnam, kritis, tillana and javalis, traditions of improvisation like alapana, kalpana swaram and niraval.) The twelve issues of 2016 had a south Indian (Tanjavur) veena on the cover—which is more than one can say of other magazines of the north devoted to music.