Nov 16

Nov 16 Meditation: Songs of the Soul mesmerises Christchurch

(caption for the above picture): Members of the international grouping on Oceania Tour November 2016; After Christchurch, the Songs of the Soul musicians visited Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

- the performance held at The Piano in Christchurch on November 6 was part of Sri Chinmoy Centre's very own grouping of musician's Australasian tour

Alap started the evening with his Zen-Duduk creating a mystical atmosphere

Not many know him in India. Reason being he left the country in his early thirties and made New York his permanent home. But Sri Chinmoy's influence can be gauged by the fact that in 1970, at the request of U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the United Nations, he founded a “non-denominational programme at the United Nations in New York which offers meditations for world harmony, interfaith programmes and cultural activities for UN delegates, staff members and special guests”. The programme runs till date. Among his other talents, Sri Chinmoy was a prolific music composer, with his compositions crossing the 22,000 mark. In total, he organised over 770 musical concerts worldwide to promote peace and harmony among the human race.

Sahadeva Torpy led Sahadeva Ensemble transforming Sri Chinmoy's melodies into a soulful and powerful homage

Mandu and Visuddhi on traditional Chinese Erhu with its haunting sound and the dynamic beauty of the classical Harp

To carry his legacy of music, after Sri Chinmoy's passing away in 2007, his disciples who were also talented musicians got together to form an informal grouping called Songs of the Soul. They have been travelling ever since performing Sri Chinmoy's music to audiences worldwide.

Projjwal, who hails from Germany and is the manager of the grouping informed, “This is our 171th concert in the last eight years. From here, we will go to Auckland, followed by three concerts in Australia. All of us are Sri Chinmoy's disciples. Tonight, we had around 30 performers with majority coming from overseas. Monk Party - the father-son duo from Auckland, Paree's International Singers, Sahadeva Ensemble, Alap with his Zen-Duduk, and Mandu and Visuddhi on the Chinese Erhu and classical harp, were some of the performers.”