Raymond Burnier died at Zagarolo in 1968 and is buried in the village cemetery. Daniélou inherited part of his estate and extended his own property, which he transferred to the Swiss foundation he had just created, giving it his friend’s Indian name. The Harsharan Foundation, Alain Daniélou Study Centre, first under his direction and then, after his death in 1994, under mine, has continued to maintain contacts with UNESCO, the International Music Council, the Berlin and Venice Institutes, the Giorgio Cini Foundation at Venice, Casa Asia at Barcelona, and the Musée pour la Photographie at Lausanne.
While the audio archives have been donated to Casa Asia of Barcelona and much of Daniélou’s library to the Cini Foundation in Venice, the Zagarolo Centre still keeps Daniélou’s correspondence and the manuscripts of his numerous books, the Burnier-Daniélou-Cloarec photo archive, plus more than 500 texts of articles, conference papers, etc.
Over the past two decades, private concerts have been organized at the Zagarolo Centre, including as guest artists the pianist Emmanuel Torquati, the guitarist Hans-Jürgen Gerung, the composer Sylvano Bussotti, the singer Francesa Cassio, the pianist Ugo Bonessi, the dancer Raghunath Manet, the sarod-player Patrick Mac Avoy.
In 1998 the municipal council of Zagarolo, under the then Mayor sig. Sandro Vallerotonda resolved to name one of the roads leading to the property Via Alain Daniélou, indianista, musicologo. A reception was arranged at Palazzo Rospigliosi with the participation of the famous Italian actress Rossella Falk. The King of Afghanistan was represented by his son, Prince Mirwais.
In 2007 numerous events were organized in more than 14 towns in 7 different countries to celebrate the centenary of Alain Daniélou’s birth, including one at Palazzo Rospigliosi, thanks to the collaboration of the municipality under the Mayor, sig. Daniele Leodori, with performances of Indian dance and music and an exhibition of most of the photographs collected in this album.
Over the next few years, the Centre’s activities will mainly concern the cataloguing of the Daniélou archives and the publication of his works as e-books.
Jacques Cloarec – Translation by Kenneth F. Hurry
