The sound of a harmonium belted out in a traditional Indian singing class at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Center (JNICC) on Wednesday afternoon.
The music accompanied the phrase and modulation of the voices of the students in the class.
Anand Biharilal Sriwastava, the singing and music teacher leading the class, played the harmonium and stopped occasionally to correct the students' pitch.
"There is only one line to the song, but it has to be sung in different tones," Wina Kumari Bhuller, a student, said.
The session was Wina's first singing lesson. The Indonesian-born Indian said she had only recently found out that the center held such classes.
"I love to sing. I have Indian blood so I feel the need to learn more about my culture and I finally found the right place," she said, adding she also attended yoga classes at the center.
She has enrolled her daughter and sister in the classes as well.
Music, yoga and dance classes are conducted five times a week, from Tuesday to Saturday.
The center charges Rp 400,000 (US$43) for three months of yoga classes and Rp 120,000 for three months of for music and dance classes each.
Anand said fluency in Indian language was not necessary to attend the singing classes.
"However, how can you learn about a culture without learning the language used by that culture?" he said.
He explained that in Indian music, notes were very important. However, he added, the curvy phrase or modulation within the tune concerned is the point of focus, not the mentally constructing of a phrase through a combination of notes.
"We form waves and render the phrase or tune into an identity of its own. That's the beauty of Indian music," he said
JNICC secretary director Elisabeth Saragih said that apart from music and yoga, the center also offered dance classes.
Elisabeth said the participants at the classes were both Indians and Indonesians, saying that this was evidence that Indian culture was warmly embraced by Jakarta residents.
The JNICC was established in 1988 and recently relocated to Jl. Pandeglang in Menteng, Central Jakarta earlier this month for spatial and technical reason. It was originally situated on Jl. Imam Bonjol, also in Menteng.
The inauguration of the new location was attended by Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Biren Nanda, who said in his speech that Indian and Indonesian cultural exchanges were important to bilateral relationships and that there was still much each country could learn from the other through personal interaction.
The new facility also hosts a library. Elisabeth said the library was frequently visited by those wanted to know more about India and by students who wanted to research, or were simply interested in, Indian literature.
