The Eastern Naval Command (ENC) struck a chord with the audience at VUDA Park on Saturday as a band of sailors provided a musical treat as a prelude to Navy Day, which will be celebrated on December 4.
The band comprising 40 talented musicians left the crowd spellbound with their prowess on their musical instruments. The performance featured a wide selection of music covering from martial, English, Hindi, pop music to some soul-stirring songs of patriotic fervour.
“One of the main features of the Navy band is that it is purely a wind band. Its beauty is that the band can perform anywhere. The two main functions of the band are ceremonial performances and those for entertainment. Through this performance, the aim is to showcase the talents of individual musicians and their versatility in various musical instruments, even in difficult ones like xylophone,” said Commander Satish Kumar Champion, Licentiate in Military and Director of ENC band.
ADVERTISEMENT
In keeping with the military pageantry and revelry, the performance commenced with a Quick March aptly titled ‘Colonel Bogey March’ followed by several other inspiring martial tunes. The band also rendered solos and duets on multiple instruments including a less familiar instrument called the xylophone played by leading musicians Suman Sarkar, Santhosh Chippada and Shubam Birade.
One of the highlights was the band’s rendition of the Telugu popular song ‘Cheliya-Cheliya’ arranged by Master Chief Musician S J Raman. People cheered and applauded as the naval band’s notes struck the right tone, infusing intrinsic feelings of joy, bravery and valour.
An amusing solo performed on the trumpet by Musician First Class Derick Johnson was a great hit with the audience. The performance culminated with the rendition of the signature marching tune of the Indian Navy entitled ‘Jai Jai Bharati’.
ADVERTISEMENT