Music brings together revellers of life

On a winter evening back in 2000, the city police had noticed that a line of cars were skipping the main road back to the city and heading to a tiny, muddy lane leading to a farmhouse off Nelamangala. On probing further, cops found that all these cars were assembling without permission for an informal ¬ but not illegal ¬ musical performance by Guruskool, a fusion band.On that night, Guruskool co-founder Gopal Navale and the people that gathered there were lathi-charged. But 15 years later, as part of the World Music Day celebrations hosted by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC), in association with Bangalore Mirror, Navale basks in the adulation of music-loving people of Bengaluru.
The celebrations were held across eight metro stations in the city, namely Baiyappanhalli, SV Road, Indiranagar, Rangoli Metro Art Centre (MG Road), Rajajinagar, Sandal Soap Factory, Peenya and Nagasandra.
“The sole purpose of this gala is to unite the entire city of Bengaluru as one community of art-loving people,” said UA Vasanth Rao, chief public relations officer of BMRC. “Through music, we are bringing together a lot of people from different walks of life and making them enjoy a day full of fun and festivities.”
The jamboree had Navale himself, along with his wife Geetha, playing the veena. While he was entertaining the crowd with his delicate handling of western tracks with a tinge of Carnatic feel to it, at the other side renowned singer-actress Vasundhara Das “and drummer Roberto Narain held the attention of the passers-by with a Community Drum Jam. The group offered drums and tambourines (dafli) for people to join in and synchronise with their beat.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” said Nanda Kishore, a businessman from the city. “I was proceeding towards MG Road station to go somewhere but I guess I can go only after this is over. It's a beautiful thing that has been organised. It unites the entire city like a tribe and it's good to go back to the tribe,” he added trying out his luck with some dance moves.
While he was egging on others to join in, Ramesh Joshi, a security guard, was enjoying himself at the centre. He was dancing like a child with the entire troupe performing around him. “This is the first time in the entire city that I am part of something like this,” said the guard from Nepal. “Usually, poor folks like us do not have the luxury of such things. But there are no economic barriers here. I was dancing with someone better off than me till now. And it was great!” Not just poor or rich, the celebrations broke the barriers of age too. Kids were a regular sight on Sunday, but Hamsa Mani, 74, stunned everyone with her excitement for music. Though the elderly woman, carried on a wheelchair by her daughter, could not muster up many words, she still managed to say: “The musical performances today have made my day.”
Speaking of the old, Teruko, 82, rocked the day along with her group Royal Echo Choir, a Japanese troupe. Performing for the second time at the World Music Day, they were truly the highlight of what was a rhythmic evening when they sang Rajkumar's eternal hit Huttidare Kannada Naadalli Huttabeku to a stunned audience. What's more, they even pulled along a Briton named David Millard into their choir this time. “Well, I love Japan. I worked there for two years and learnt everything about their culture. Back here, I saw them perform at the Japan Habba last year and immediately asked if I could sing for them in Japanese,” said Millard, a services manager at Shell.
Music, however, was not the only platform used to unite the crowd. There was storytelling from the Bangalore Storytelling Society as well. Deeptha Vivekanad and her team recited some pieces about music as a tool to unite people, significance of yoga etc.