Kalabhumi Music Studio

Built in 2002, the building features full acoustic sound treatment designed by Didier Weiss at Sound Wizard. The rehearsal hall is also fully equipped with a full sound system and mixing desk, acoustic and electric pianos, drum sets and many other tools necessary for bands to practice and perform. 

Attached to the building are also two open air amphitheatres. One is situated directly behind the building for smaller and more informal concerts, and the other adjacent one is for large-scale events. In addition to being a place of work, Kalabhumi studio is a focal point for artists within the community to meet and collaborate. The studio also has a team that is fully involved with numerous music projects and performances, the coordination of visiting artists and the organization of concerts at other venues within Auroville.

In the 1980s, Pondicherry was home to an underground music scene involving expats from France, Sri Aurobindo Ashram youth, and travelers. At the time, the main practice space for Auroville musicians was a non-sound-proofed room at Bharat Nivas. As Auroville's life was becoming more established and certain, many began hoping that beyond a spiritual community focused on Sri Aurobindo’s ideas, Auroville could emerge as a cultural center as well.

Multidisciplinary artist Rolf Lieser was active in Germany’s art scene in the 70s before coming to Auroville, where he organized cultural events as well as taught art at Last School. He remembers internationally renowned trumpeter Markus Stockhausen coming to Auroville on tour in the ’80s, and sometime in the early '90s, a huge multimedia show organized at the Bharat Nivas auditorium in the week leading up to New Year’s Eve.