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This 62-year-old musician brings joy and healing to cancer patients, senior citizens, jail inmates, shelter home residents and more.
In 1988, Umesh Vipin, a trained singer, came from Bhopal to the city of dreams to make a career in music. Almost four decades later, he not only fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional singer, but has been using his art to bring joy in people’s lives.
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Ghansham Vaswani, playback singer and composer |
Chembur-based Umesh, alongside his music career, started teaching music in his Aas Academy, where coincidentally, a lot of older people had enrolled. Over time, he noticed that people became happier and were calmer than before the music training. “I did some research and learnt that music has the power to heal, better the mood, reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality, and has an overall positive effect on our mental health,” explains the 62-year-old.
“If music can create such magic in our lives, imagine how much happiness can it bring to the ones who are less fortunate than most of us,” he says.
With his wife Sangeeta and daughter Shoonya, he decided to start Shruti Sandhaan Foundation. The foundation was registered in 2023, but their work began in 2007.
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The foundation’s team has sung at 40 different places |
The foundation’s team that includes the trio, a massive professional orchestra and singers from Umesh’s music academy, have so far sung at 40 different places. The singers who perform at the various organisations are 45 to 80 years old.
Umesh Vipin with his wife Sangeeta Khare |
They have performed at cancer hospitals, old age homes, the Taloja and Thane jails, Thane mental hospital, leprosy homes, centres for children with special needs, destitute care centres, among many others.
“At all the places we have performed, the audiences have enjoyed thoroughly, most of them start dancing to the tunes being played, forgetting about their worries. At Taloja jail, the inmates proved to be the best audiences we have ever come across. All 300 of them listened to us singing the songs with rapt attention and encouraged us to sing more after each song,” he says.
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The singers who perform at the various organisations are 45 to 80 years old |
Apart from taking music to these organisations, they also donate in kind. “At one organisation, we sponsored medicines for three months for their residents. As part of the donation attempt, we have also conducted medical camps at various places,” shares Umesh.
At TATA Memorial Hospital’s Kharghar facility, the team taught songs to patients undergoing chemotherapy who were in a lot of pain. “There were cervical, blood, brain cancer patients and would come straight from chemotherapy to learn music, happily, forgetting all the trauma and pain of the radiation. This is how much music was making them happy,” he says.
These patient-students also performed there, prompting many to dance. “There was a patient with a nasal tube (nasal cannula) who was humming along and dancing. That was like seeing the power of music at work,” Umesh signs off.
Ghansham Vaswani, playback singer and composer, who has known Umesh for some time, appreciates the work of his foundation. “His music and work has been helping people who suffer from various mental health issues feel uplifted. The music performances especially at hospitals have seen exceptional results. It’s a great service to the society in general,” says Vaswani.
