The Nags in Stuttgart (left); A collage of Indian classical CD covers produced by Chhanda Dhara

Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Ustad Allah Rakha... It was a magical maestro mix that mesmerised the audience during a 12-hour marathon of Indian classical music at the Kulturant der Landeshauptstadt, Stuttgart, Germany, on a chilly November night in 1991.

Next morning, as the Indische Nacht drew to a close at the prestigious venue, the rapt listeners had to thank a Bengali couple, Shefali and Gopi Nath Nag, for the music.

For the past 35 years, the accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer ? a disciple of the late Guru Uday Shankar ? and her engineer husband have been presenting the cream of Indian classical music to Germany and the rest of mainland Europe, live and pressed on CD.

Born in Hooghly and raised in Calcutta, Shefali took to Bharatanatyam when she was nine, and since then, it?s been her ?life and God?. In 1968, she toured the US and Canada with Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar?s troupe and two years later, she married Gopi Nath, migrating to Stuttgart.

?We started Chhanda Dhara in 1971, in a college music hall in Stuttgart, thanks to the help of then mayor Manfred Rommel, with just seven students. This was probably the first Indian classical dance school in Europe and gave the West a platform to imbibe the subtle nuances of Indian fine arts,? recalls Shefali, in town with her husband, taking a winter break.

The Nags had come in close contact with top Indian classical musicians while Shefali toured all over Europe with her students and to perform solo. ?She had this compelling urge to unveil the greatness of Indian classical music before the westerners and we have been lucky to receive the kind of cooperation we did from the Indian masters,? observes Gopi.

What started with a sitar recital by Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, became an annual rendezvous of ragas. The biggest names in Indian classical ? from Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma to Ustad Bismillah Khan, Balamurali Krishna to Ustad Zakir Hussain ? all have been part of the Indische Nachts, as Shefali matched steps with them.

?Those days, we weren?t all that well-settled in Germany and it was a struggle. Often, my husband used to drive the artistes to the venues and we had to put them up at our residence, since we couldn?t afford transport or hotel costs. I even used to cook their meals myself, in between practice and accompanying them on tanpura,? remembers Shefali, who was decorated with the ?Ambassador of Indian culture? title by the German media.

The duo has also been credited with producing the ?first Indian classical audio CD ever?, under the Chhanda Dhara label. Fabulous Flute of Hariprasad Chaurasia, recorded at the Bauer studio in Stuttgart and released in 1985, kicked off the tune trek, followed by Incredible Ravi Shankar the following year.

?We have produced and distributed 90 CDs till date, using the hi-tech Bauer recording facility,? says Gopi.