Vicksburg is a multicultural town and is home to an active Indian community.

On Sunday, locals will have the opportunity to experience some of the culture during the Sangeet Sabah-Music and Dance Reflections, which will be offered at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center beginning at 2 p.m.

“Talking to my friends, I realized that living in Vicksburg, they did not have much opportunity to learn and be exposed to Indian culture, so I approached Stacey Massy at the SCHF, and she was very receptive to the idea of having an Indian classical music event here,” local resident Shaheena Haque said.

The event will include eight different performance items with three Bharatnatyam dances, one semi-classical/Bollywood dance and one each sitar, Bansuri, Mridangam, and tabla piece.

Bharata Natyam is one of the oldest dance forms of India and is known for its grace, elegance, purity, tenderness, expression and sculpturesque poses. Today, it is one of the most popular and widely performed dance styles and is practiced by dancers all over the world. Many of the ancient sculptures in Hindu temples are even based on Bharata Natyam dance postures, Haque said.

Sunday, Deepti Patki will be the dancer for the event.

The history of Indian music, known as Raga Sangeet, can be traced back nearly two thousand years, Haque said, and is principally based on melody and rhythm, which is both elaborate and expressive.

“Indian classical music allows for a much greater degree of personalization of the performance, and each performance of a raga is different,” Haque said, adding the difference with western classical music and the Indian ragas is that the ragas are not “composed” by a composer, but were created by a lengthy process over the centuries and do not represent the mind of the composer, but a universal idea of the world.

For more than 40 years, the Indian community has been living in the South Haque said, and integrating with the American society and institutions and being part of the melting pot.

“We feel that we also are a part of the Southern Cultural Heritage, and I am very thankful to SCHF for providing us the opportunity to share our music with the Vicksburg community.”

Sangeet Sabah-Music and Dance Reflections is free, but donations are welcome.