Gaurang Doshi is a recipient of the 2025 North Carolina Heritage Award, presented by the North Carolina Arts Council. “It’s the highest honor given to a traditional artist in the state,” he says.

For Doshi, instructor of UNCG’s Indian Music Ensemble, Indian classical music is not simple entertainment. “Music is a means of personal expression and cultural preservation.” His musical tradition is built on the deep relationship between guru and shishya. Who was his guru? His father, Dr. Laxmikant Doshi.

“He taught me for more than 30 years, even to his last breath, in a way. He sang in the hospital bed to teach me. That’s what we’re trying to preserve.”

UNCG is the only university in the state that offers Indian classical music. That’s important, says Dr. Gavin Douglas. “We offer our students the unique opportunity to actively participate in a musical tradition that operates very differently from Western music,” he explains.

Learn more about Professor Doshi below.

By Mercer Bufter ’11 MA
Photograph courtesy of Gaurang Doshi
Video by David Row ’09, ’16 MFA and Brian Clarey