Many Rotarians are passionate about music beyond intense interest in enjoying music and bathroom singing. “Some of us are singers ourselves, a section also performs in some capacity at music shows, but only a handful manage to do so. But most of us don’t get opportunity or platform to sing for some kind of an audience. For such people the International Fellowship of Rotarian Musicians (IFRM) is the best forum to share their talent with others interested in music,” says Ravi Chakravarthi, past president of Rotary Bangalore South Parade, RI District 3191.
This fellowship was started in 1972 in the US, says the IFRM website “to promote and encourage the use and appreciation of music in Rotary Clubs by Rotarians in our society and, thereby, to encourage world understanding”.
It was chartered in India for the first time in 2010 in RID 3190, by a Bengaluru-based Rotarian Nagesh Siddhanti.
The website says the objective of IFRM officers and members is to take a leading role in extending the “cultural and educational use of music in Rotary through group singing, musical entertainment, and the fostering of music projects around the world. IFRM arranges and publishes the annual RI Presidential Theme Songs, furnishes musical leadership and performances at events at all Rotary levels.”
The core activities of IFRM include singing, dancing, playing instruments, live orchestra performances, etc. Over the last four decades, officers and members of the fellowship have taken a leading role in extending the cultural and educational use of music in Rotary through group singing, musical entertainment, and the fostering of music projects around the world.
Padmanabhan (Paddy) Iyer, its global chair says IFRM brings together an international collection of Rotarians, Rotary alums, spouses and friends to explore together the joy of music through participation in musical activities. From listening to performing, the fellowship provides a “stage for engagement in the love of music. We are working on a new Rotary Songbook. Throughout the year, we connect on an active website, social media, and we even have a zoom virtual choir IFRM Sings, Newsletters Stacatto and Music Notes to keep Rotarians informed about IFRM and its members.
It’s an opportunity to meet music loving fellow Rotarians and make friends around the world at a three-year membership fee of $35, says Chakravarthi, who within a few months of joining Rotary in 2020 opted for this fellowship. He is now its regional coordinator.
He says that after 2010, when IFRM came to India, “for about 7–8 years, nothing much happened and it didn’t go beyond RID 3190. But later Paddy Iyer, a Rotarian from Thane, took it to RID 3142, and became the vice-chair of IFRM India and started working on expanding its footprint in India. A lot of restructuring was done and today this fellowship has really grown in India to many other districts, has 54 chapters and about 1,800 members in India alone. Iyer is presently the IFRM global chair.
In Bengaluru, which has over 85 IFRM members, there is a meeting once a month, “either in a hotel or some other place… and there is music, singing, food and enjoyment for about 5 or 6 hours.”
A typical IFRM event, often held on Sunday mornings, is attended by about 40-45 people and Indian film songs from Bollywood as well as South Indian films are sung. Most of the time the singing is done on karaoke, but twice a year live music is also organised.
“Basically, the idea is to give an opportunity to all the members to sing for others and it is great to sing to live music. When you talk about Rotary and fellowship, this is particularly one place where we can all connect with our passion for a particular interest, which is music,” he says.
That this fellowship is immensely popular in India can be seen from the fact that out of about 3,400 IFRM members worldwide, 1,800 or over half, are in India.
Asked if they also give expression to classical or Carnatic music as they are based in Karnataka, Chakravarthi says at the beginning of this year, a new chapter for classical music has been chartered. “But as of now, we are not asking our members to perform classical music because very few members are trained in classical music.”
The Bengaluru chapter also organises sometimes concerts for a couple of hours where professional singers perform. While they are yet to come to Chennai for the famed December music season, “we did organise in December 2024 a two-day outing to Lonavala, where all IFRM chapters were invited, but only a few attended, with over 100 people joining.”
In June 2026, this chapter organised a South Zone IFRM Idol contest, which was attended by about 40 members from eight different chapters across South India. Also, the district — which recently split from 3190 into 3191 and 3192, had expanded in the last one year; adding six more chapters of the fellowship to the earlier two chapters. In all, now there are eight musician fellowship chapters in these two districts.
Though he doesn’t have the exact numbers Chakravarthi estimates about one fourth of the 1,800 members in this fellowship in India are women. He is happy to share that women actively participate in fellowship meetings. “We encourage them to do so, because we need female singers for duet songs.”
The latest IFRM chapter to be chartered in India was at Vapi, RID 3060 in August 2026. DGN Vipul Patel, who is one of the key players in the formation of this IFRM chapter, along with PDG Kailash Jethani, who will be regional chair of this IFRM chapter, named Sur Maitri, said they were very happy to welcome past RI President Kalyan Banerjee as a lifetime member of the chapter with 75 members. He said the members of the fellowship plan to meet every quarter. “Our RI district is very big so we are planning to organise events in different parts so that most of the members have an opportunity to participate and enjoy an evening of music, dance and singing.”
At the first event of the chapter held in Surat on Oct 3, Gujarat’s very vibrant Garba culture was introduced and it turned out to be an event filled with magical and traditional music and dance of the region.
Patel said the very spirit of IFRM was centred around the belief that where words fail, music speaks, where hearts are divided, music unites. “Today we celebrate much more than an organisation… a beautiful idea born in 1972 that music can become a universal language of friendship, fellowship and world understanding. For over five decades IFRM has brought together Rotarians and music lovers across borders, cultures and continents.”
Jethani said the true magic of IFRM was that you didn’t have to be a professional musician to belong, you simply had to love music.
Paddy Iyer who participated in the charter meet said the programme was beautifully organised and “full of joy, fellowship and wonderful music. We enjoyed some amazing performances and soulful songs, making the evening truly memorable.”