n 2007, the Indian Air Force had celebrated its platinum jubilee with a grand tattoo at the India Gate. The spectacular show had military bands from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and the United States apart from India, with a memorable performance by Pacific Trends, the band of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. So many years later, on Friday, India Gate played host to another international military band performance, this time by the Indian Navy and the Royal Marines. It was perhaps not as grand as the IAF's 2007 event in scope and scale—it was just an hour-long programme meant to honour and celebrate Indo-British defence ties—but it was riveting nevertheless. And it enthralled the crowd, many of whom didn't have prior information about the show but cheered and rooted for the musicians from beginning to end. From traditional military music to Bollywood and Hollywood numbers, the band performed keeping in mind tastes and sensibilities of both nations, tied together by the umbilical cord of history. It was also quite heartening to hear the joint band play Vaishnava jana to, the 15th-century composition by Narsi Mehta that was the favourite bhajan of Mahatma Gandhi. Somebody in the crowd muttered in amusement, "Arre angrez toh Gandhi ji ka gaana baja rahe hai (the British are playing Gandhi's music)!" An incredulous (and innocuous) remark that showed that many Indians are still caught in a time warp: until 68 years ago, it was impossible to imagine a British military band, or even a British-controlled Indian military band, to play in the honour of the Mahatma. But times have changed. And for the better. Immediately after that, the band played Bollywood chartbuster Jeena jeena from the movie Badlapur with a trumpet replacing Atif Aslam's vocals. The crowd responded with loud cheers. They had accepted the angrez to play music closer to their hearts. And from that point on, it was all about loud cheers and thunderous claps. The band next played a medley of Hollywood themes, including the signature tune of James Bond films, and after that there was a medley of old Bollywood numbers from the 1960s and 70s. The crowd listened with rapt attention. Then the Royal Marines Corps of Drums marched out, as did drummers from the Indian Navy. The next few minutes were all about traditional martial music that's played by most Commonwealth militaries, including India's. This was followed by the main marching tunes of the Royal Navy and the Indian Navy. The show ended with Saare Jahaan Se Achha. A section of the crowd sang along. The India Gate, a memorial to Indian soldiers who died in the First World War, watched on. It was perhaps a perfect commemoration too. Source : TOI This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The collection comprises of 150, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, XDCAM and 4K. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Please subscribe to our channel wildfilmsindia on Youtube for a steady stream of videos from across India. Also, visit and enjoy your journey across India at www.clipahoy.com , India's first video-based social networking experience! Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com To SUBSCRIBE click the below link: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=WildFilmsIndia Like & Follow Us on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/WildernessFilmsIndiaLimited Website: www.wildfilmsindia.com

• published: 26 Mar 2016
• views: 68