Navy band's voyage through martial music and patriotic medleys

The Hindu

2 days ago

Recreating foot-tapping martial melodies and ensemble-driven contemporary patriotic songs, the Eastern Naval Command Band of the Indian Navy served up a musical extravaganza to pay tribute to the valour, prowess and values of the Navy, and the entire Defence Forces, to set the stage for the 79th anniversary celebrations of Independence Day.
The Navy's symphonic band concert led by director Commander Satish K. Champion, hosted by INS Pallava — a naval unit near Mamallapuram under the auspices of the headquarters of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval Area — featured an enthralling mix of rousing military tunes, patriotic compositions from the repertoire of the maestro A. R. Rahman, anthemic Hollywood theme music and a Bollywood ode to the indomitable spirit of women (via the song 'Bharat ki Beti' from Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl).
The concert at the Urban Entertainment Centre, Old Port, commenced with a rendition of 'Swarnim Vijay Varsh' (Golden Jubilee), an orchestral tribute commemorating 50 years of the liberation of Bangladesh from December 16, 1971. The projection of war footage on a mounted screen added to the electric atmosphere stirred up by the 18-member ensemble.
The Eastern Naval Command Band, set up in 1945 with just a handful of naval musicians, has grown not just in size but in stature over the decades having performed to acclaim across the country and prestigious venues abroad, especially during the overseas deployment of Indian Naval warships.
With versatility being its hallmark, the band has excelled whether arranged as a military marching band or as a symphonic wind ensemble and its wide-ranging repertoire spans military music, symphonies, overtures, concertos, Indian classical music and an array of contemporary genres.
While curating its concerts in consonance with the tastes of regional audiences, the band appears to make an effort to incorporate different forms and textures of music to produce a rich tapestry that, just as importantly, embody India's 'unity in diversity' identity. In fact, the cheers from the crowd were the loudest whenever the band picked a hit from the Rahman ouevre — 'Jai Ho' (Slumdog Millionaire), 'Singapenne' (Bigil), 'Chozha Chozha' (Ponniyin Selvan I) and 'Tamizha Tamizha' (Roja).
The band also performed 'Renaissance', a fusion version of 'Vande Mataram,' Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's ode to the motherland — first presented during the Beating the Retreat ceremony at Delhi's Vijay Chowk in 2012. 'The Indian Fleet' musically summed up everything the Navy stands for. There was even a tabla providing accompaniment to the symphonic mix of trumpets, sax, flute and drums.
A duet titled 'To Imps' and dubbed, 'The Ticklish Treat', that unfolded like a mirthful cat-and-mouse chase with a zig-zag sequence of notes on the xylophone was followed by a medley of pieces by American composer John Williams (music from Star Wars/The Phantom Menace/Duel of the Fates and theme music from Indiana Jones and the Superman franchise).
After a patriotic medley featuring popular songs from Hindi films, and Michael Jackson's 'Heal the World', a rendition of 'Sare Jahan Se Achha' of Urdu poet Muhammed Iqbal, essayed with a blend of signature marching songs of the Indian Navy, Air Force and Army, served a fitting finale to the evening.
Among the dignitaries in attendance were Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Speaker R. Selvam and Tourism Minister K. Lakshminarayanan. Senior officials from the Indian Navy and the U.T. administration, NCC volunteers and children from city schools also attended the event.