RSS musical band to play Indian classical tunes on foreign instruments

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is all set to display its music band talent by introducing certain foreign instruments to play Indian classical tunes in Bengaluru next month.

Under the banner of the Akhila Shrung Ghosh (brass band) Shibir Swaranjali, the musical training-cum-performance programme will go on from January 7 to 10 at the Reva University campus in Yelahanka.

 As many as 2,000 RSS volunteers who are musically talented, as part of the all-India meet, will play saxophone (Naganga), clarionet (swarad) and euphonium (gomukha) and trumpet (turya) among others, according to Sangh’s Karnataka media chief Rajesh Padmar.

The present instruments being played by the Swayamsevaks include the side drum (anaka), the bass drum (panava), the bugle (shankha), the flute (vamshi), the triangle (thribhuja) and cymbal (jhallari).

The band set, which is innovating itself over the years since its inception in the 1970s, has been attracting a huge crowd by playing Indian classical music raaga-based numbers.

The speciality of the Bengaluru event would be the introduction of foreign instruments to play Indianised music. Raagas of both Carnatic and Hindustani would be played. In the four-day camp, new compositions like Meera based on Bhup raaga, Tillana based on Tilang raaga, Shivaranjani based on Shivaranjini raaga among others, would be played.
Route march

In addition to taking out a “path sanchalan” (route march) on January 9 at 4 pm, members of the music band would be taking out a separate march. This is the first time such an experiment is being undertaken by the band, said Padmar.

The march would begin from the Vyalikaval Pavilion Grounds at 4 pm and will conclude at the Malleswaram playgrounds.

The second march would begin from the HMT Grounds in RT Nagar and return to the same venue.

Padmar said that the aim of the camp is to increase the quality of the band by giving training to the participants who would be coming from across India.

Only the valedictory programme on January 10 at 4 pm, would be open for the public. The valedictory address would be by Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat.