Music Mania is GD Goenka International School, Sonepat’s annual inter-house music festival, now in its fourth year, where all four school houses compete across vocal, instrumental, and fusion-band categories. The 2025 edition was held on Friday, 18 July, in the school auditorium, with a judging panel that included the school’s music faculty and a guest judge — a graduate of the school now studying at a conservatory.
Close to 90 students from Classes 6 through 12 took part across three rounds. The solo vocal round featured both classical and contemporary entries, ranging from a Hindustani classical raga performance to acoustic covers of contemporary Bollywood tracks. The instrumental round showcased keyboard, guitar, tabla, and violin soloists, while the closing fusion-band round saw each house field a 5-6 member band blending Western instruments with Indian percussion for an original 4-minute composition.
House Ganga’s fusion band took first place overall with an original composition titled “Sur Sangam,” combining tabla and electric guitar — a piece the band had been rehearsing for six weeks after school hours. House Yamuna’s solo vocalist, a Class 10 student, won Best Vocal Performance for a rendition of a classical thumri. Best Instrumental went to a Class 8 student’s violin performance of a Carnatic-inspired piece adapted for the school’s format.
Beyond the competition, Music Mania serves as the school’s primary platform for students in its Western and Indian classical music electives to perform for a live audience, and teachers noted this year’s edition drew a noticeably larger turnout of parents than 2024, filling roughly two-thirds of the auditorium.
The festival closed with an all-school jam session where the winning fusion band was joined on stage by student volunteers from the audience, capping the evening on an informal, celebratory note.
