NEW DELHI: To mark the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram and encourage public participation in a national commemorative initiative, the Centre has proposed setting up 100 “Vande Mataram Karaoke” booths across the country, allowing citizens to record and upload their renditions of the national song on a dedicated campaign portal.
The Ministry of Culture has been tasked with establishing the booths, which will be equipped with professional sound recording systems and karaoke support to enable high quality recordings of the song written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
The number of booths allotted to each state and Union Territory has been determined based on population ratios. Uttar Pradesh will have the highest number with 17 booths, followed by Bihar and Maharashtra with nine booths each.
In September, the Union Cabinet approved year long, country wide commemoration celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram to foster an impactful movement connecting citizens, particularly youth and students, with the song’s original revolutionary spirit.
Following this, the ministry launched a dedicated campaign, “Karaoke with Vande Mataram”, encouraging people to record themselves singing the poem and upload their versions on the portal https://vandemataram150.in.
As part of the celebrations, both individual and mass singing events are being held across the country.
Since the launch of the digital campaign, more than 2.96 crore people have participated and uploaded their renditions online.
“The Vande Mataram Karaoke Recording Booths are proposed as an interactive, experiential installation to capture and celebrate singing renditions of Vande Mataram. The booth functions as a hybrid phygital (physical + digital) activity, combining in person engagement with digital archival and sharing capabilities,” the document on the proposed booths stated.
On a similar model, states and Union Territories may also set up such units independently.
The karaoke facilities, integrated with the campaign website, will be equipped with a studio grade microphone for high quality sound recording with a pop filter, a professional sound recording device with onboard storage for high fidelity renditions, and a wall mounted touch screen for karaoke lyrics display and user interface. Soon after the recording and upload are completed, a certificate will be generated for the participant.
Vande Mataram was initially composed independently and later included in Chattopadhyay’s novel Anandamath, published in 1882. The song was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress session in Calcutta.
As a political slogan, Vande Mataram was first used on August 7, 1905, and it was adopted as the national song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.