Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika @ 100

A Musical Tribute & Harmonium Donation to IME

September 2026 marks the 100th birth anniversary of one of India’s most memorable voices, Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika. And this year, the Indian Music Experience Museum is honoured to receive a harmonium that belonged to Dr. Hazarika, donated by his family through the Bhupen Hazarika Cultural Trust.

This is a particularly significant addition to the IME collection. The Bharat Ratna is India’s highest civilian honour, and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika is one of only six musicians to have received it, alongside M.S. Subbulakshmi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar. With the addition of Dr. Hazarika’s harmonium, IME will now hold memorabilia associated with all but one of these musical legends.

The evening features a musical tribute by Assam Society of Bangalore, a networking high tea as well as a formal handover ceremony for Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s harmonium with the legend’s family, members of the Bhupen Hazarika Cultural Trust and IME Leadership

Born in Assam in 1926, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika was a musician, lyricist, filmmaker, poet and cultural ambassador whose work brought the stories, sounds and spirit of Assam and the Northeast to audiences across India and the world. His songs were deeply rooted in Assamese folk traditions and life along the Brahmaputra and spoke of humanity, equality, social justice and cultural identity.

For IME, receiving an instrument that was once part of a musical legend’s life and practice is a true honour. A musical instrument is more than an object because it carries traces of the hands that played it, the music that emerged from it, and the stories and traditions that surrounded it. By preserving such instruments alongside recordings, photographs and other memorabilia, IME hopes to enable visitors now and well into the future to encounter the human stories behind the music.

So it is with great pride that we invite you to join us as we celebrate the handover of this remarkable instrument, the centenary of Bhupen Hazarika, and a legacy of music that continues to bring us together.

Date and time:
20 September 2026, Saturday
05:00 PM Onwards

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