INDO – RUSSIAN MUSICAL TRYST
A military band is not
proud because it performs well, it performs well because it's proud –
George Parks
Music and
Rhythm find their way into the secret places of the Soul – Plato
Military regiments the world over are proud of their martial
bands and vice-versa. Every soldier on Parade marches erect with dignified pride in perfect synchronous harmonics to the sonorous beats of his Military band.
The provenance of Indian Navy Band is
the Royal Indian Navy when it was constituted with a few musicians. Today the
Indian Navy boasts of a contingent of trained musicians in various bands across
our country. The Indian Naval Band has gratified and delighted audiences of not only our
country but around the world by their spectacular performances. The Bands
accompanying the warships cruising abroad for goodwill visits, act truly as emphatic
Ambassadors of our great country. Indian Naval Band has imposed itself through
many international performances, notable amongst these have been the Queen’s
coronation in the Statue of Liberty, the Australian Bi-centennial celebrations,
the President’s Fleet Review in USA and International Fleet Review in
Australia. In the recent past, the Indian Naval Band has participated in the
prestigious Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Scotland and the Russian
Federation Navy Day in Sep 2018. As a
goodwill gesture and in reciprocation, the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet Band
was here with us on our Navy Day, performing with us shoulder to shoulder. Two
days later, the two Naval bands had a tryst in the Mulla Auditorium on the 6th
of Dec 2019.
THE INDO RUSSIAN JOINT BAND CONCERT
INS KUNJALI was the organising host of the joint concert on behalf of
the Western Naval Command and invited the Veterans for the 2 hr show. The Housefull Mulla Auditorium had an equal number of serving officers and veterans with
their spouses and a large number of Sailors. Among the Senior Veterans who
graced the occasion, it was an honour to meet Adm VS Shekhawat (our former CNS)
with his good Lady Mrs Binu Shekhawat. VAdm and Mrs IC Rao, RAdm Arun Auditto & Mrs Ranjana Auditto and RAdm GC
Thadani with two charming Sisters were the other Senior Veterans to grace the ethereal musical
evening. We had ample opportunity to meet and greet each other, awaiting the arrival of the Chief Guest, VAdm RB
Pandit, Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command. The MC, LtCdr Anurag Shukla, in his impeccable diction welcomed
the Chief Guest and audience to this grand extravaganza of musical fusion
between two old friends.
The show kick-started with an extraordinary
performance by the Russian Military Band of the Black Sea Fleet; nonstop uninterrupted
for 40 mins, comprising deep sonorous crooning, group dances and breath-taking
awesome flips. (Video below). The Russian segment renditions included ‘Legendary
Sevastopol’ arranged by Zotov V, who presented two more songs ‘Salty Water’ and
‘Long Way’. Skripnichenko arranged ‘Military Uniform is that Good’, an awesome group
dance accompaniment. Ivanov V presented folk music based ‘Russian Dance’.
Mitkin V presented another folk music based dance show ‘Yablochko’ that was
breath-taking, before the 10 mins intermission for drinks and snack at the lawns.
It was indeed an honour to meet and greet each other. The exclusive take away
of such gatherings is the chance opportunity that the young (serving) people extract to
interact with the uninhibited younger lot (Veterans).
The next segment started with Indian Band
performance. The first three presentations were ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘O Sole Mio’
and ‘ Hootenanny’, But the movie theme of ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’ by
composer E Moricone was exceptionally arranged by our Director of music, Cdr VC
D’Cruz, that amused us back to the era
of the ‘70s.
The last segment was out of the world
fusion of both the Bands that included ‘Moscow Nights’ and ‘Katyusha’ by Mitkin
V, but what stole everyone's heart by fiddling their heartstrings were a
parody tribute to Raj Kapoor by LtCdr M Sebastian and the two beautiful Russian
crooners singing ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ from the Hindi film Disco Dancer, arranged admirably by Zotov V.
The climax crescendo was a tribute to our
very own Legendary composer and lyricist IQBAL, for having presented us with
our Official marchpast score ‘Saare Jahan Se Achha’. It was arranged by our
conductor A Lobo. What the musicians of both countries churned out was abundant
to raise our goosebumps, that compelled us to rise with a huge round of
applause directed towards each and every member of the joint Orchestra of two Nations.
LtCdr Anurag Shukla requested VAdm & Mrs RB Pandit (Chief of Staff WNC) and Mr Aleksei V Surovtsev, (Consul General of Russia in Mumbai) on stage to felicitate the Naval Bands of Russia and India. After the mutual exchange of greetings and felicitation, the Russian Consul General thanked the Indian Band and the Indian Navy in raw confident Hindi. It was heartening to see the Russian Consul General come and meet Adm VS Shekhawat and converse in accented Hindi, while the Admiral, retorted in proficient Russian, even as they strode smilingly to the Exit to bid farewell with 'DasVidaniya' (до свида́ния).
It’s indeed an unwritten truth that music
akin to love knows no language barriers, is seamless, cannot be bound; albeit
it does unite nations, as was evident in Mulla Auditorium on the evening of 06
Dec 2019.
Kudos anew to the Officers and Men of INS
Kunjali for the clockwork organisation
of this prodigious Musical Extravaganza under the stewardship of Cmde Rishi Raj.
Shano Varuna… Jai Hind!
P.S.- Notice the exceptional stunt photography by @Meena Dutt in photos below.
THE COMPLETE VIDEO OF THE INDO- RUSSIAN JOINT MUSICAL CONCERT
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About the Author
Commander
Rajinder Dutta (Retd) has been a Naval Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor
with about 3000 hrs of flying on various fixed-wing Aircraft of Indian Navy,
viz HT-2, HPT-32, Kirans, Islander, Super Connie, Fokker F-27 and IL-38.
He is the Hon
Secy of NFMC, a Master of Ceremonies and an avid blogger.
http://rajdutta26.blogspot.com/
Great indeed !
ReplyDeleteThanks Sir.
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to witness a Russian wedding, and it was truly breathtaking. The elaborate ceremonies, the delicious food, and the heartfelt toasts made it an unforgettable experience.
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