Taking music to the Indian Armed Forces

Two city-based musicians, Praveen Sparsh and Shreya Devnath have embarked on a new and unique project through which they’re planning to take music to the Armed Forces. Their vision is to perform for the jawans at base camps and active zones across the nation since seldom might they get the chance to attend a concert.

The duo conceptualised the project with the help of Rtd. Wing Commander Mahalingam. Begins Shreya, “This gentleman and I have been closely associated for the past few years — we connected after he attended a concert of mine in Coimbatore, where he resides. He had put up a post on Facebook last year about how the Armed Forces do so much for the country, so in return it would be really nice if artistes could take music and dance to them at the army bases since they can’t frequent concerts or sabhas.”

The singer-violinist happened to come across the post and immediately reached out to him. “I told him that if he were to organise something like this, Praveen and I would be happy to play,” she adds. The venture has been a year in the making because of logistics and security clearances, and the first concert is set to happen at Sulur Air Force Station on February 22.

Shreya shares, “The planning of the concert was left completely to us. The only brief we were given is, ‘Jawans may not know Carnatic or classical music but they’ll be good listeners and feel happy’.” Keeping this in mind, Praveen and she have curated a 60-75-minute set, which consists of elements like Rabindra sangeet, Bharatiyar compositions, Meera bhajans and popular patriotic songs with a Carnatic presence in a piece or two.

“Curating it has been interesting because we wanted to create a feeling of familiarity and belongingness through musicality for these soldiers who hail from diverse backgrounds. It is not so much about playing a chaste Bhairavi or complicated korvai but making the jawans reminisce something back home, or even make them clap and dance to folk numbers. We’re having an English note also, which is at the opposite end of the spectrum,” explain the musicians.

Shreya will sing and play the violin while Praveen will handle multiple percussion instruments including the mridangam. They explain, “We’ve tried to keep technology to the bare minimum because we’ve been getting requests to perform in active zones, where troops are actually stationed. The instruments are entirely acoustic so we can sit down and play anywhere.” 

Those interested in supporting this project can contribute by arranging concerts at army bases across the nation where the duo can play at, or sponsor/host a concert since it’s a voluntary effort and the artistes won’t be changing any performance fee.