(less)Strings perform at the SAARC Music Concert in New Delhi. Central Park, Connaught place
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NEW DELHI, November 13
Come November 30 and Delhi would be rocking to the compositions of our own Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy, Strings from Pakistan and Stigmata from Sri Lanka in the three-day SAARC Bands Festival as part of the festivities to mark India heading the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Being organized by NGO Seher, in conjunction with the ministry of external affairs and the ICCR, the festival will see the participation of 14 bands from the eight SAARC countries. The festival would be held at the Central park of Connaught Place and will be open to all.
Besides Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy, Strings and Stigmata the other bands participating in the festival include Abhaya and Steam Injuns from Nepal, Bangla Fusion Band from Bangladesh and Zero Degree Atoll from Maldives.
The Aryan Band from Afghanistan would be performing on the final day. Afghanistan was admitted as the eighth member of the SAARC in April last when the summit was held here.
Conceived and designed by Sanjeev Bhargava, artistic director, Seher, the first ever SAARC Bands Festival will showcase the best fusion music bands from around the region. This is a SAARC initiative specifically aimed towards the youth .
Each evening four to five bands will play a 60 to 90 minute sloteach. According to Sanjeev Bhargava, "students from SAARC countries will come to witness the festival as part of a students exchanges programme. The idea is to sensitise the youth to be proud of the talent in theregion and promote cultural harmony."
He adds, "This is also a wonderful opportunity for the bands of the region to interact with each other and also experience their music. None of them have earlier played music along side each other and it would be great to see so many talented musicians playing together. Imagine the lead singer from Bangla Band from Bangladesh singing with Shankar Ehsaan and
Loy—or the Nepali band jamming with Strings from Pakistan—We are proud that our SAARC Bands Festival will help in increasing the people to people contact between the artistes of the region and the youth of India will get an insight into the immense talent that exists in our region"
"The Festival has been curated as one of the biggest Cultural Fests and a big ticket event for the music lovers of Delhi. I don't think Delhi would have seen such a variety and talent from these countriesand all at one venue. It definitely will be a treat for Delhi-ites. I know our artistes are charged and raring to perform at Connaught Place," he says.
The opening act of the festival would be by a Delhi Band Advaita with the Strings from Pakistan being the last performer on the first day. The second day would see Stigmata from Sri Lanka besides Indian Ocean and
Rahul Dixit Project from Bangalore. It would be the highly talented trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy who would bring down the curtain on the three-day festval with the performance on December 2.
