Traveling back from Noida to Kolkata I looked out of the train window and remembered the exceptional things that had taken place in the last days. It had all started when my sitar teacher Pandit Manilal Nag told me about a large event in Noida, near Delhi, where one thousand sitar players were needed to perform at the same time. It sounded interesting, but I didn’t really know exactly what to expect…

Taking my chance I signed up for it and first joined a meeting with about 50 sitar players in Kolkata. The conductor had a tough time then already to manage the rehearsal with artists of all ages, from children to senior citizens. A week later we traveled by train to Noida where we stayed in a nice and cozy hotel. From our lodging we were taken to the venue by bus, there free catering with good Indian vegetarian food was provided for all participating artists in the huge musician’s tent backstage. People from all over India were participating - but apart from me there were only about 8 sitar players from western countries!

Taking my chance I signed up for it and first joined a meeting with about 50 sitar players in Kolkata. The conductor had a tough time then already to manage the rehearsal with artists of all ages, from children to senior citizens.

A week later we traveled by train to Noida where we stayed in a nice and cozy hotel. From our lodging we were taken to the venue by bus, there free catering with good Indian vegetarian food was provided for all participating artists in the huge musician’s tent backstage. People from all over India were participating - but apart from me there were only about 8 sitar players from western countries!
After this picture had been published, some more Indians also wanted to join for a shoot backstage.

Three days we had rehearsals on an immense stage large enough to accommodate more than one thousand musicians. Apart from the sitar players there was a conductor, a lead singer, some solo instrumentalists, and a group of about 100 percussionists. To settle on the stage took already more than one hour, and to tune one’s own instrument was a difficult task as well in the buzzing sound of hundreds of other sitars surrounding each of us. Then during the rehearsals it seemed almost as if the multitude of sitar necks had become one huge united wood of musical instruments that had grown on the stage.

On the third day, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar turned up to get an impression of the proceedings. Immediately there was a frantic rush on the stage as many Indians were trying to catch a glimpse of him and to touch his feet, because this Brahm Naad concert was organized by his ‘Art of Living foundation’ as a fundraiser for the victims of the flood in Bihar 2008.
So when the show finally started on the fourth day, it was quite an overwhelming experience.

I've never seen such a huge number of musicians on one stage before, and in fact it was a world record which made it into the Guinness book of records. There were about 1200 sitar players playing at the same time.

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