|
Effort to popularise national anthem
- New Delhi, January 27 (UNI)
TWO YEARS ago, "Vande Mataram" was on everyone's lips. Last year, it was
"Desh ka salaam". But the aim this year is to make the national anthem, "Jana
gana mana" the song that unites every Indian.
Mr Bharat Bala, who created history of sorts when United Radio and Television
Networks in a unique venture on August 15 last to pay a tribute to martyrs,
gathered thirty classical and folk singers to render the national anthem in their own styles.
An information booklet on the national anthem along with audio and video compact discs rendered by the artistes was released at the special sitting in the
central hall of Parliament by President K.R. Narayanan this morning.
Renowned vocalist Pandit Jasraj, one of those who have sung the anthem,
rendered it at the session, held to mark fifty years of the promulgation of the Indian Constitution. Mr Narayanan expressed happiness that so many artistes had come together on the project.
Later in the afternoon, Pandit Jasraj gave copies of the album to some of the
artistes who had come to the Capital along with Mr Bharat who also addressed the press meet.
The album has been brought out in collaboration with the department of culture of the union government. The artistes present were: A.R. Rehman, Hariharan, Shobha Gurtu, Ustad Sultan Khan, Pandit Kartick Kumar, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan and Sudha Raghunathan.
Mr Bharat said his aim was to take a national theme and turn it into a mainstream and popular idea. He said the renditions were also available on the home page of Satyam Online. Both Mr Rehman and Pandit Jasraj lauded the unique effort that had brought so many different artistes together.
The album also contains the "Jana gana mana" in the voice of Gurudev
Rabindranath Tagore. Other artistes involved with the project include singing queen Lata Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhonsle, Pandit Hari Prasad
Chaurasia, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, S.P. Balasubramaniam, Pandit Shiv Kumar, Dr Balamuralikrishna, Bhupen Hazarika, Jagjit Singh, Begum Parveen Sultana, and Kavita Krishnamurthy.
|
