AR Rahman lends his voice in fight against poverty
By Vrishti Beniwal, New Delhi: ‘Pray for me brother..Do you need a reason to be kind’, sang Bollywood music maestro A.R. Rahman as he lend his support to the People’s Concert against poverty, held on Saturday evening at Pitampura Dilli Haat grounds here.
Rahman was joined by singer Kailash Kher, Indian Ocean band and many various other singers in the special concert against poverty organised by Global Call to Action Against Poverty (G-CAP) in collaboration with People’s Summit against Poverty.
“The anthem ‘Pray for..’ is on the theme of eradicating poverty and is very close to my heart,” said Rahman, adding that music plays a crucial part in creating awareness about social problems, and promotes a feeling in you to be kind to your fellow beings.
Kailash Kher, who shot to fame with his song ‘Allah ke bande..’, sang his most recent number from ‘Mangal Pandey’. As he sang, “Mangal, Mangal ho..” everybody from the audience started singing and dancing with him.
“There is a need to remind people from time to time that we should make our lives meaningful by extending support to such noble causes. I feel great to be associated with such cases,” said Kher.
And the ‘Indian Ocean’ just stole the show with their songs “Are ruk ja re bande..” and “Kasi Hile Patna hile..”.
The concert, timed in the context of the UN World Summit (September14-16), aimed at giving a boost to the campaign against poverty all across the world.
“The aim of the concert was to generate the support of the masses in a big way. Such events will raise awareness amongst people and draw the attention of government to poverty,” said Indu Prakash Singh, National Campaign Co-ordinator, Action Aid.
Singh also said that entry to the concert was free and their aim was not to raise funds, but to create awareness about widespread poverty in India, as well as across the world.
Meanwhile, Rahman, who is also the goodwill ambassador for the STOP TB campaign of the World Health Organization (WHO), visited a slum cluster in Mangolpuri of west Delhi on Saturday morning, where he interacted with patients suffering from the disease.
Certainly, these music legends may have won accolades for their performances at different levels, and concerts may be just another source of income for them, but on Saturday they definitely lent their voice for a different purpose, which was a wake up call to end poverty, in words of Rahman