UNITED NATIONS: Soulful music from the strings of the sarod reverberated in the iconic General Assembly hall on Wednesday as maestro Amjad Ali Khan paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at an annual concert, with UN chief Antonio Guterres calling the event as an appropriate tribute to the Indian leader’s legacy.
The Permanent Mission of India to the UN hosted the UN Day Concert 2018, which featured performance by the sarod maestro and his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash along with the Refugee Orchestra Project conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya at the General Assembly hall at the world body’s headquarters.
The concert’s theme this year was ‘Traditions of Peace and Non-violence.’
Khan performed the ‘Vaishnava Janato’, the ‘Ram Dhun’, a Rabindra Sangeet and an Assamese folk song with his sons.
“Amjad Ali Khan and the Refugee Orchestra Project have crossed boundaries and cultures to enrich the societies where they perform. They remind us as our Charter reminds us – that our diverse backgrounds are a cause for celebration rather than division,” Guterres said.
“Earlier this month, it was my deep personal honor to visit the Raj Ghat memorial in India to pay my respects to one of the world’s greatest leaders, Mahatma Gandhi,” he said. The theme of “peace and non-violence” is an appropriate tribute to his legacy, he said.
“Everyone has the fundamental human right to live in safety and peace. Yet, around the world, far too many suffer from war, discrimination and abuse,” he said.
He thanked the Permanent Mission of India for supporting the concert.
“This represents a confluence of musical traditions from the East and from the West. The effort is to portray the world the way it was meant to be not the way the world as it is unfortunately today,” India’s Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin said.
He cited Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, “Heaven of Freedom” to describe such a world that “has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”.
India last hosted the UN Day Concert in 1966 when the legendary M S Subbulakshmi performed in the General Assembly and enthralled a world audience with her soulful rendition of the ‘Maithreem Bhajatha.’
Over the years, individual countries have hosted UN Day Concerts with performances by renowned artists, musicians and troupes. PTI
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