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The establishment of the Sangeet Research Academi (SRA), an ideal gurukul to groom gifted youngsters into professional artistes of high calibre, was a pioneering step in terms of patronage of classical music by a corporate house after royal patronage disappeared during the years following India's independence. Its creation rested on the concept that the true transmission of an intangible art like music is possible only through the guru-shishyaparampara where the disciple lives and learns in constant proximity with the guru. Long years of close involvement between the teacher and the taught is the only way to carry forward and preserve the rich heritage.

Nestling in the idyllic ambience of a 200-year-old magnificent building called 'Aldeen', with a cluster of houses in Tolleygunje, south Kolkata, that originally belonged to the heirs of Tipu Sultan, the ITC-SRA's locale is appropriate to its musical mission. It seems the natural home for the gurus and the shishyas in residence to keep constantly in touch producing environs and the psychological ambience of a gurukul where the guru puts a stamp of unmistakable contours of voice and enunciation on a student.

The most striking feature of this unique institution therefore is that it serves the purpose of a rich nursery with blooming flower beds of different varieties with their specific fragrance and beauty. Right from the beginning, a galaxy of gurus from different schools of Hindustani classical music like Pandit A. Kanan and MalavikaKanan, HirabaiBarodekar from the Kiranagharana, UstadNisarHussain Khan from Saheswan, IshtiyaqHussain Khan from the Rampur gharana, NivrittiBuaSarnaik from the Atrauli Jaipur gharana, Girija Devi from Benaras and LatafatHussain Khan from the Agra gharana settled down at the SRA and helped create an institution epitomising the true guru shishyaparampara.

In the present-day scenario where the gharana tradition is diminishing fast, the scholars of SRA can give an authentic performance of Gwaliar, Agra, Kirana or Patiala gayaki, because even today this institution can boast of gurus like the senior most 102-year-old Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, UstadMashkoor Ali Khan, PanditUlhasKashalkar, Pandit Ajay Chakravarti (the first scholar of SRA who went on to become a guru there), PanditArunBhaduri, Girija Devi, PanditBuddhadevDasgupta and ParthoChatterjee and the like. The selected scholars are guided to choose a particular gharana and train under their guru.

You can see the authentic stamp of Kiranagayaki in the flawless rendition of a raga by young Arshad Ali Khan, a disciple of UstadMashkoor Ali Khan, or savour the sweetness and vigour of Patiala gayaki in a moving rendering of raga Malkauns, reminding you of the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, in Brajeshwar Mukherjee, a gifted disciple of Ajay Chakravarty.

Assessment, appraisal and counselling form a continuous process throughout a scholar's training. In gradation tests which are held twice a year, the scholars have to demonstrate continuous improvement and keenness to learn. The expert committee comprising knowledgeable, committed and experienced musicians, presided over by the executive director, evaluates the scholars periodically. The appraisal involves voice reproduction, gayaki, riyaz, and peshkaari - the presentation - while the expert committee makes specific suggestions for the scholars' improvement mentioning their special talents.

The ITC-SRA is also a boon for researchers with its well-equipped library and rich archives with hundreds of hours of audio and visual recordings of great maestros, raga analysis, and compilation of compositions, documentations of different gayakis and analysis of the styles of great masters by a panel of musicologists. The publication department has published a number of books and scientific research papers apart from the academic research department that has been publishing the annual journal of the SRA since 1980, renamed Ninaad.