Auroville is clearing its vocal chords ahead of the mass singing event this weekend when its multi-cultural ethos will find expression in the beauty of music.
On a scale that could be bigger than the previous edition, people from different nationalities and mother tongue will step up to the plate and sing in a spirit of togetherness.
As with every sphere of life in this campus, the Auroville Singing Festival too is premised on community engagement.
The event is slated for October 10 and 11 at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Bharat Nivas . Entry is restricted owing to limited seating.
The two-hour session of mass singing on each day will comprise family concerts, ‘x-change’ concerts (where people from different nationalities sing together), sing-along and children’s choir.
A special feature will be the group rendition of the ‘Do it Now’ song for the climate that made its Indian debut in Auroville last month.
The song began as a global movement in 2008 when 6,000 Belgians got together in a short film, appealing for action on climate change and followed it up with a mass jig featuring about 12,000 people. Interestingly, the Belgians reached this page before the Londoners did when thousands of Britons drowned out Trafalgar Square with a mass rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles.
In 2012, Belgian film director and environmental activist Nic Balthazar penned the song ‘Do it now’ based on the melody of ‘Bella ciao,’ an anti-fascist movement Italian song of World War II.
The song has since been chorused by around 4,00,000 people in Belgium, cementing its place as an awareness anthem on climate change, and its popularity has snowballed, carrying the tune to the far corners of the world.
