Selina Sharma (Thielemann) is an Italian-born Indian musicologist and vocalist."Maanav prem hi vishva Sanskriti"Hindustan
18 February 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016."Bhakti ka aadhaar prem hai: Thielemann"Aaj
20 March 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016."Manushya ki puja hi bhagavan ki puja"Dainik Bhaskar
19 March 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016. Her theoretical work concentrates on

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

, in particular on the devotional music tradition of the

Vraja Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhoomi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal and Ballabhgarh in Haryana ...

region, the

Baul The Baul ( bn, বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism, Vaishnavism and Tantra from Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitut ...

s of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

as well as on the philosophical and spiritual aspects of music. Currently she is the Vice-Secretary and Academic Director of Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana (Institute of Vraja Art and Culture) at

Vrindaban Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

."Indische Kunst in Dohna"Saechsische Zeitung
9–10 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2016.

Early life and career (1994-2006)

Born as Selina Thielemann into a family of musicians and scholars, Selina Sharma was introduced to Indian culture and philosophy as a young child, inspired especially by her violinist father Peter Thielemann and her mother Serena Mitzscherling, a renowned concert pianist."Selina Thielemann. London se vrindavan tak"Dainik Bhaskar
14 July 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016.Regunathan, Sudhamahi
"From Berlin to Brindavan"The Hindu
10 April 2000. Retrieved 28 June 2016. Selina received training in violin from her father. After completing her schooling and musical education in Germany, she pursued her M.Mus. in

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

from the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where she also studied mediaeval

Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃ� ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and South Asian politics.Vats, Pritima
"Vrindavan ke suron ne Italy lautne nahi diya"Hindustan
29 December 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016.Ranjan, Prabhat
"Bharat apna desh lagta"Jansatta
4 June 2000. Retrieved 25 June 2016. She completed her M.Phil. in musicology from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and obtained her Ph.D. from

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

.Varadapande, M.L
"If music be the food of life, daal roti it has to be"The Pioneer
17 November 1996. Retrieved 25 June 2016."Ishvar ka asli rup manav hriday me"Nayee Baat
19 March 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2016. Her doctoral thesis on "Musical traditions of Vaishnava temples in Vraja" was supervised by renowned musicologist Professor

Prem Lata Sharma Prem Lata Sharma, 10-05-1927 to 05-12-1998, was an Indian musicologist. Life Prem Lata Sharma was born on 10 May 1927, in Nakodar, District Jalandhar, East Panjab. She was the only child of her parents, Pandita Lalchand sharma, Srimati, Mayad ...

, who essentially shaped Selina's views."Bharatiya sangit unhe Italy se kinch laya"Navabharat Times
29 May 2000. Retrieved 25 June 2016. The other personality to significantly influence Selina's academic outlook was the German scholar Professor Josef Kuckertz, whose writings she compiled after his death and published them under the title ''Essays in Indian music'' in 1999. In 1994, Selina came first to India to pursue fieldwork on the temple music traditions of the Vraja region as part of her M.Phil. thesis at the University of Cambridge. Here, she started her training as a

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South Ind ...

vocalist with Pandit Vidur Mallik at

. Seeing the declining state of many forms of traditional music and art in the

area, she returned to Vrindaban upon completion of her studies at Cambridge University in the summer of 1994, and from then onwards dedicated her work to the research and documentation of the musical traditions of Vraja and other areas in India. In the course of this work, her intent of establishing an academic institution for the research, documentation and dissemination of Vraja art took firm roots, a goal which materialized in 2004 when
Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana
was established by a group of dedicated artists and scholars including Selina Sharma and her husband Shashank Goswami.">"Indische Tempelmalerei in Dohna
/nowiki>"]
Dresdner Nachrichten
14 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2016. Between 1996 and 2005, Selina Sharma produced the major body of her publications including eleven books on various subjects of Indian music and philosophy, as well as a large number of articles. Together with the famous folk singer Purna Das Baul, she authored the first extensive written account on the philosophy of the

Bauls The Baul ( bn, বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism, Vaishnavism and Tantra from Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute ...

to be published in English language.

Dissemination of Vraja art and culture (2006-present)

Since 2006, Selina Sharma concentrated her activities on the dissemination of the rare and endangered forms of folk and traditional art of Vraja. Together with her husband,

Sanjhi Sanjhi is a festival to the namesake goddess, mainly by women and girls in parts of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Sanjhi Sanjhi is the name of a mother goddess, after whom images are made of mud and molded into various shapes suc ...

artist Shashank Goswami, she conducts regular workshops and lectures on Indian music and art, Indian stage plays on epic themes enacted by school children, as well as exhibitions of miniature paintings by young artists from

in India and abroad."Einblicke in das Leben der Inder"
3–4 May 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2016."Indische Mythologie in Liedern und Erzaehlungen"Saechsische Zeitung
4 August 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2016."Erstes Deutsch-Indisches Festival startet in der Johannstadt"Saechsische Zeitung
31 May 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2016. She also performs as a dhrupad singer in India and abroad. In 2012, Selina Sharma was honored with the Kiran Achievement Award for her contributions in the field of musicology. Press release by Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana
25 November 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2021

Personal life

Selina Sharma is married to hereditary priest and

artist Shashank Goswami since 2006. They have two sons Shri Ram Goswami and Shri Lakshman Goswami. Selina Sharma speaks many languages, including Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, English, Italian and German.

Bibliography

''The Darbhanga tradition: dhrupada in the school of Pandit Vidur Mallik''
(Varanasi: Indica Books), 1997
''Rasalila. A musical study of religious drama in Vraja''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 1998
''Sounds of the Sacred. Religious Music in India''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 1998
''The music of South Asia''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 1999 * (Edited) ''Essays on Indian music by Professor Josef Kuckertz'' (Bombay and Baroda: Indian Musicological Society), 1999
''Singing the praises divine: music in the Hindu tradition''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2000
''Musical traditions of Vaishnava temples in Vraja. A comparative study of samaja and the dhrupada tradition of North Indian classical music''
(2 vols., New Delhi: Sagar Printers and Publishers), 2001
''The spirituality of music''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2001
''Divine service and the performing arts in India''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2002
''Samgita-sadhana. The path of human oneness''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2003
''Armonie yoga. Un flusso universal di musica, poesia e filosofia che parla al cuore''
(Savona: Lakshmi Edizioni), 2012 * (with Baul Samrat Purna Das
''Baul Philosophy''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2003 * (with Saurabh Goswami
''Music and fine arts in the devotional traditions of India. Worship through beauty''
(New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation), 2005

Discography

* ''Dekho gopala ki avani'' (Devotional songs from the temples of Vraja), produced by Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana, Vrindaban, 2004 * ''Sañjhi Utsava vol. 1'', produced by Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana, Vrindaban, 2005

References

External links

Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana

Works by or about Selina Sharma
in libraries (

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

catalog) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Selina Indian women musicologists Indian musicologists Indian women classical singers Banaras Hindu University alumni 1970 births Living people 20th-century Indian educators 21st-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers 20th-century women educators