HYDERABAD: Celebrated on June 21, World Music Day or Fête de la Musique recognises the power of music in bringing social harmony. The theme of this year’s World Music Day is “Uniting Through Music”, which highlights the power of music to bring together communities and bridge cultural divides. This global event has been celebrated since 1982 and has now grown into an international phenomenon.
Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad has been celebrating World Music Day in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad for the past 16 years by organising musical concerts to encourage greater interaction and participation in music.
“This year, we’re celebrating World Music Day on June 21 from 4 pm to 9 pm at Premia Mall, Irrum Manzil. The speciality this year is that the age group ranges from six years to 60 years which is a beautiful range, inclusive of people of almost all ages. We hope to bring diverse groups together on one platform and encourage people to come, watch and enjoy,” said Paridhi Bihani, Project Coordinator at Goethe Zentrum, Hyderabad.
“This platform mainly is for upcoming artists to bring their music to the audience. We’ve collaborated with Independent Music Platform, an organisation that helped us curate this event by bringing local artists of Hyderabad together on one platform. We’ve collaborated with IMP and with the support of L&T Metro and Premia Mall, we are hosting an evening full of music concerts. This year, we have a versatile range of music genres as well: Carnatic, Hindustani, jazz, hip-hop, rap and independent music. I think it’s amazing to have so many genres of music on one platform. On this day, we’re very hopeful that we will be able to reach out to around 7,000 people. And that is something that is the essence of Word Music Day, right?” added Paridhi.
Among the participants, we have ‘The Cats’. Started by George Hull almost three years ago, a jazz saxophonist and music educator from Hyderabad, “The Cats” is a collective of the most seasoned Jazz musicians in the city. Heading a mix of musicians excelling in the field of music education and who are also experts in the professional gigging circuit, George Hull says that he has got the most versatile of artists in his band. Introducing us to the members of his group, he says, “The group has a solid vocalist in Keertana Bhoopal, who embraces her cultural roots while pursuing her passion for music. Keith D Rozario is an ace guitarist who happens to encompass almost all genres like rock, funk pop and jazz and is a music educator too. Finally Karthik Kalyan, Hyderabad’s most favourite Jazz drummer and a veteran of the jazz scene of India.”
The Cats are all set to enthral the WMD audience with a mix of offbeat funk and jazz performances adding to the richness of Hyderabad’s vibrant music culture.
While The Cats dominates the jazz scene, ‘Suppi and the Vibe’, as a trio, make music that crosses genres. While Double E aka Waseem and Kranti aka Krillz14 set the vibe with strings, beatbox and rap, Suparna adds to the vibe with her vocals. The trio is a year old and has been performing at various venues in the city since 2022. They have eight unreleased tracks, that deploy a fusion of hip-hop and Carnatic, as well as a bit of pop and R&B.
The World Music Day event will feature a total of 51 artists, comprising 15 bands. The age range of the performers spans from six to 72 years.