- Sunday, December 22, 2024
By: indiaweekly.biz Staff
MARKING the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian diplomat in the US has launched an inspirational musical tribute, urging “Bapu” to guide the world through difficult times.
Composed and sung by 2008-batch Indian Foreign Service official Sambhu Hakki, the Hindi song “Bapu Mere: A musical tribute to Mahatma Gandhi” was screened at an Indian Embassy event to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti on Friday (2).
“Our Bapu (Gandhi), please come to this world again. Help us to navigate through these difficult times. Show us the path of truth, teach us truth and non-violence. You are the messiah of peace….,” goes the English translation of the song.
Currently posted as first secretary at the Indian Embassy in Washington, Hakki, who hails from Karnataka, had earlier served in China.
The lyrics of the song was written by Neeraj Saini, who also works at the Indian Embassy here.
“A tribute to Gandhiji, beautifully written, composed and sung by my two colleagues,” Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said in a tweet.
The song has also been released on several popular online music platforms such as YouTube Music, iTunes and Spotify.
“This song is also dedicated to the memory of Jeffrey Bauer, a friend and a great pianist at the Gandhi Memorial Centre who passed away recently,” Hakki said.
The diplomat is a practitioner of Hindustani music, and has also learnt basic piano and guitar.
“I am passionate about composing music and want to experiment with different genres of Indian and Western music traditions,” he said.
The song, loosely based on Raag Kamaaz or Mishr Khamaj, is one of the melodies that are part of his upcoming music album “Jashn-e-Zindagi (Life is a celebration)“.
