Fri, 20. 9. 2019, 7.00 p.m.

MEMORIES OF INDIA

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  | 

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948) was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule, who led India to independence through non-violent civil disobedience and inspired the movement for human rights and freedom around the world. The honorific Mahatma or "lofty soul", "venerable", was first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, and is now used around the world. For all Indian citizens he is the Father of the Nation.

The Indian Government decided it would commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth, and to that end a National Committee was set up to propagate his legacy at the national and international levels. The Committee is chaired by the President of India, with other honourable members including the Vice-President, Prime Minister, the ministers representing the individual states of India, representatives of various political bodies, Gandhi acolytes, thinkers and important figures from all fields of public life.

Some of Gandhi's 150th anniversary commemoration events seek to disseminate his legacy through music, by having his favourite spiritual song or bhajan "Vaishnav Jan To" sung all over the world, by the Indian Government and other countries issuing commemorative postage stamps, by a khadi fashion show, by School Outreach activities, by issuing translations of Gandhi's collected works in digital form, by online quizzes about him, and by a world cycle race and the Gandhi World Ecology Day 2019.

The Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic has built on this idea through its many years of successful cooperation with the Indian conductor Debashish Chaudhuri, which recently culminated in the orchestra's two concert tours in India.