South Asian Symphony Orchestra strikes notes for peace

With diverse members including S'porean conductor, it aims to transcend differences

- Debarshi Dasgupta

NEW DELHI - A few days earlier, the concert stage was a lively scene as musicians warmed up during rehearsal. Strings bowed, woodwinds blew and brass bellowed, adjusting tempo and tune as a team.

What may have seemed like musical dissonance to the casual onlooker gelled into a harmonious whole on the day of the concert, on Nov 23 in New Delhi. As the musicians took their seats, a hush descended upon the 300-plus audience.

And as Singaporean conductor Alvin Arumugam's baton swung into action, the disparate instruments spoke their parts, notes and pitches melding into a cohesive whole, taking the listeners to a musical idyll.

That evening, the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (Saso) channeled works by famous Western classical composers of yore. Beethoven and Mendelssohn were on the musical menu, paired with a new piece by 23-year-old Indian composer Aryaman Joshi featuring the tabla and celebrating India's successful moon landing.

On stage, an Indian violinist, a Sri Lankan double bassist and a Pakistani-American violist were among the 40 or so members of the Western symphony orchestra, helmed by a Singapore-born conductor with roots in Sri Lanka and Malaysia - all bound together more by their love for music than by their differences.

The five-year-old Saso was created by the South Asian Symphony Foundation. Co-founded by former diplomat Nirupama Rao and her retired bureaucrat husband Sudhakar Rao, the non-profit trust based in Bengaluru seeks to build peace and mutual understanding in South Asia through music and its orchestra.

A former Indian foreign secretary, Mrs Rao believes an orchestra, with its diverse players and instruments, is an apt illustration of what a society ought to be like.

South Asia extends from Afghanistan, through Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, and through India, Sri Lanka and to the Maldives.