The Colors of India, a medley of cultural and traditional Indian performances, will start at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holmes Student Center’s Diversions Lounge.

The event is part of the Indian Student Association’s India Week and will allow NIU music professors and professional artists to perform vocal and instrumental pieces.

Acts will include a vocal Carnatic performance, a Bharat Nãtyam dance performance and instrumental acts including the tabla and mridangam.

Artists will explain the origin of the instruments or dance and also provide historical background.

As part of India Week, the association wanted to relate and expose each facet of the Indian culture, said Varad Srivastava, Indian Student Association secretary.

“Song and dance is an immense part of Indian culture because it is very old and part of their way of life,” he said. “It conveys social relationships and illustrates stories passed down from generation to generation.”

The culture of India also is diverse and vast, Srivastava said.

“India is a very large country, and from north to south, there are 18 different languages and yet people are held together by a common thread,” he said.

Srivastava also discussed the importance of learning about other cultures.

“It gives you a unique insight as to how other people look at life and it allows us to see how other people approach the same problems that we do in the United States,” he said.

Srivastava said in times of uncertainty, when many people are insecure about other countries, learning about other cultures may provide an understanding and respect for each other.