Can music counter unrest? World’s leading musicians perform together to find answers
“Terror has struck lethal blows on humanity but artistes have not adequately responded to it. So I have come up with a counter-model with music, the food of love.” Thus spoke German composer Michael Herting, after his soul-stirring Global Sai Symphony regaled a 5,000-strong crowd gathered to celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of Sathya Sai Baba recently. The symphony, a world philharmonic involving 126 musicians from 16 countries, was first of a kind which he plans to take all over the world.
“It is a show of unity. Transgressing all boundaries of religion, colour and caste. We have assembled here to provide the music of love. It is a counter-model to terror, to hate, to intolerance.
“What hooked me on was the Baba’s teaching of love all even your enemy. It is more relevant today. He has done a lot to uplift the downtrodden – schools, hospitals etc.,” said Herting.
DON’T MISS: This animated video by Delhi Police is going viral
The symphony is a rare show of unity. It is a blend of Indian and Western classical music, by musicians from countries across the globe, including Germany, Italy, Poland, Japan, Russia, Senegal, Argentina besides India. It was conducted by Dr Michael Koehler, the distinguished conductor of the Leipzig Philarmonic.
Herting said he had left everything he was doing and made five trips to India to the various centres of Baba to understand his teachings and his life to string the composition. On how it all began, the composer from Cologne said that it was a phone call from the late Mandolin Uppalapu Srinivas requesting him to perform “a labour of love” involving musicians from around the globe that set the ball rolling.
Asked if he was a devotee, he replied with an emphatic “no”. I follow no religion but I appreciate Baba’s teachings, the values he stood for and all that he did for the poor and the underprivileged. “It has completely changed my life,” he added. The symphony depicted five movements in accordance with the five phases of Baba’s life.
DON’T MISS: Fans of Star Wars threaten to kill critic
The first depicted the advent of Baba, the second encompassed what he taught with a unique interpretation of an old German church song – “From heaven is where I come”. The beautiful melody was played on the flute and the orchestra answered in three different tempos.
The third presented a melody in many harmonies and different rhythms suitably interwoven to pronounce ecstasy and glory. Well-known vocalist Sudha Raghunathan began with an alap in the penultimate movement – I have come for all mankind – and was joined by Western classical vocalist Anjali Rajagopalan and later by Cheikkh Lehbladh from Mauritania.
A saxophone solo set the tone for the fifth and final movement. The finale saw the entire orchestra and all soloists join in a glorious resound of the Baba’s message “Love all serve all, Help ever hurt never”.
Well-known percussionist Karaikudi Mani on the mridangam led the Indian classical team. Ganesh and Kumaresh on violin, mandolin Rajesh, Suresh Vaidyanathan on ghatam, Shashank Subramanyam on flute, Debashish Bhattacharya on guitar, gave a thundering performance.
Trying to match them on his drum in his own delectable style was Senegal’s Pape Samory Seck. He was a big draw with youngsters who mobbed him after the show for autographs and photo-ops which he willingly obliged.
