"Sangam" in Hindi, means "to come together." It is a powerful, resonant word that reverberates through music, peoples and entire cultures. This Friday, "Sangam 2002: A Confluence of Streams" will bring all of these elements together in an evening of classical Indian music.

This particular concert will interweave the talents of two highly acclaimed musicians, Grammy Award Winner Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Millennium Award Winner Chitraveena N. Ravikiran. It will also fuse together both artists' respective regional music of India, namely Hindustani and Carnatic music styles. Bhatt will be playing the Mohan Veena, while Ravikiran will be playing the Nava-Chitraveena.

The Ann Arbor community is fortunate to have the opportunity to hear the workings of these two internationally renowned musical geniuses. Bhatt, most famous for his successful Indianizing of the Hawaiian guitar, has traveled the world making appearances in Madison Square Garden on the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Lincoln Center on the 125th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Royal Albert Hall in London in the "BBC Proms 100 Years." He has even participated in jazz and world music festivals, displaying his unbounded love for music. He has received such prestigious awards as the Padmashree Academy Award, the Sangeet Natak Award, the Musical Scientist Award and the Grammy Award for his 1994 album, A Meeting by the River.

At the age of two, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran was the world's youngest performing musician. His brilliance was revealed to the world when he identified, at age 2, 325 ragas (melodic scales) and 175 talas (rhythmic cycles) to an audience of esteemed and eminent musicians. He even answered technical questions about Carnatic music from music maestro Ravi Shankar. When he first started his career as an artist, he was a concert vocalist. However, when he discovered the 21-stringed slide instrument called the Chitraveena, there was no turning back. He became one of the most sought-after Carnatic concert artists, and still is to this day. He has been the first or youngest to receive awards such as the Millennium festival award, the Star of India, Sangeet Samraat, among many others.

The event is being sponsored by Sulehka.com, an online Indian community, as well as the Association for India's Development (AID), a non-profit organization that supports social development projects towards an improved life for the poor in India.