World Peace

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UNI

Redefining world peace on World Music Day

Kolkata:

 

World Music Day should be celebrated every day of the year and not just on one single day, so we can redefine world peace in a much simpler and harmonious note, say Kolkata's musicians in unison.

Almost every singer, musician and dancer- everyone related to the World of Music- had the same opinion and message to offer on the occasion of World Music Day.

Incidentally, World Music Day was a festival that first came to be celebrated in France in 1982 as the Fête de la Musique. It was celebrated every year on the summer solstice. For more news, analysis click here>>

The idea was conceived by the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1981. Today it has spread to Belgium, Britain, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, China, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan and many other countries.

In this connection, santoor maestro Tarun Bhattacharya said, ''If we all started our day with music, by simply listening to the strings of Pandit Ravi Shankar or Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, we would never have ill feelings in our mind. Then we can all become musical and would be able to channelise the power of music to find world peace.''

Another aspect that the santoor maestro talked about was that classical music today needs a better packaging. It should be sufficiently highlighted before the new generation so that they will be able to accept it more easily, he said.

He also urged the media to promote Indian classical music among the youth in our own country ''when there is such a good audience for it in other nations.'' Echoing his thoughts, renowned classical dancer Mamata Sankar stressed on the proper utilisation of the power of music which can make people laugh, cry, heal or hurt.

''Music should be such that it touches the soul. World Music Day is a day when we celebrate the union and meeting of different kinds of music from all over the world,'' she said.

''If we can come together in music, why then do we still fight amongst ourselves? she mused, while adding, ''Keeping my own culture and its heritage and classical music in mind I can still say that we need to promote world music and let the chords meet, because it has the capacity to bind people together.'' The term World music includes traditional or folk music or even root music, played by indigenous musicians.

In musical terms, ''world music'' can be roughly defined as music which uses distinctive ethnic scales, modes and musical inflections, and which is usually performed on or accompanied by distinctive traditional ethnic instruments, such as the kora (West African lute), the steel drum, the sitar or the didgeridoo.

Speaking on the essence of the day, famous tabla player Bickram Ghosh said, ''This is a day which brings musicians and music lovers from all over the world together to celebrate the union of so many kinds of music. This in itself has the capacity of redefining world peace.''

Another young percussionist and music composer Abhishek Basu said, for him World Music means that it should have a touch of Indian classical music, since Indian classical music has the power to open one's heart and free one's mind and communicate in a manner that no other language ever could.

World Music is, most generally, all the music in the world. More specifically, the term is currently used to classify the many genres of non-Western music, which were previously described as ''folk music'' or ''ethnic music''. However, ''world music'' does not have to mean traditional folk music, it may refer to the indigenous classical forms of various regions of the world, and to modern, cutting edge pop music styles as well. Succinctly, it can be described as ''someone else's local music''.

Examples of popular forms of World Music include the various forms of non-European classical music life Japanese Koto music, Hindustani Raga music, Tibetan chants, eastern European folk music and the many forms of folk and tribal music of West Asia, Africa, Asia- especially India and Pakistan - Oceania and Central and South America. In this connection, mention may be made of Pandit Ravi Shankar of India and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of Pakistan.

Yet another famous Indian classical dancer Aloka Nanda Roy threw light on the universal character of music. She said, ''Music cannot be divided by geographical boundaries or caste or religion. Music is the language of brotherhood and peace, of the delicate emotions of love and warmth.'' ''Nothing can bring unity and harmony like music and dance.

This creative art has the power to bind people of all nations into one great brotherhood,'' she iterated. In similar fashion another renowned tabla player Subroto Bhattacharya said, ''Music can alone unite this world.'' Reputed classical singer Jojo Mukherjee appreciated the efforts of those who have tried to promote this day so that musicians, singers and dancers from all nations can come together and enrich the world of music.

However, musicians and curators of music have now come to dislike the term ''world music''