Let the music play
It is perhaps an apt metaphor ~ the day the music dies will be the day the state of Jammu and Kashmir ceases to have a connect with the rest of India in terms of ethos, though territorially it will always be a part of our nation-state. Which is why it is so important for citizens of this country ~ whether in Goa or Gujarat, Assam or Kerala ~ to ensure that the Indian state does everything in its power to ensure that the scheduled concert in Srinagar by Maestro Zubin Mehta in early September goes ahead despite the protestations of the bigots.
Being organized under the aegis of the German Embassy in India, the Western classical music bonanza aims to provide a sliver of normalcy in a violence-wracked state ~ the healing power of music, as it were. But tell that to the separatists, religious leaders and their fellow travelers! For them, it all about preventing peace, accentuating differences and perpetuating misery. Why else would Kashmir’s Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-Din oppose the concert set for September 7, aided and abetted by the usual suspects from the pro-Pakistan so-called separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to the allegedly moderate Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
If they were just a bunch of music-haters ~ sad to say, but such a breed does unfortunately exist ~ it would be another matter and they could perhaps just be ignored. But hear the reasons proffered by Mr Bashir-ud-Din for opposing the concert in a letter to the German Ambassador ~ “Since Kashmir is a disputed area, the holding of such a concert would definitely send out a wrong signal to the outside world.” And what would this “wrong” signal be? According to the Grand Mufti, “the wrong signal would be that the people of Kashmir are prosperous and have the leisure to participate in such events”!
It would be have been laughable, this matter of how a few unelected men sympathetic to the theocratic state of Pakistan think they can appropriate the right to decide what music people should or should not hear. But such has been the record of our authorities in the past that you never know which fundamentalist threat they will bow to. It is, therefore, the duty of the duly elected state government of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India, and most importantly the people of Jammu and Kashmir and, indeed, the rest of India to ensure the Maestro does perform against the backdrop of the Dal Lake.
From the conflict in the erstwhile Yugoslavia to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, music has shown that it can help build bridges and offer solace in times of strife. As Ian Ritchie, Director of the Festival of London, put it in his Newham College lecture earlier this year: “Although there is considerable evidence available concerning the power of music and its effective application to the damaging human consequences of conflict, much less has been spoken or written about its potential role in resolving conflict or addressing its causes ~ the use of music to avert conflict, to resolve conflict, to heal the trauma caused by conflict and to rebuild broken communities, not just damaged minds.”
