MUMBAI: The Old Fort (Purana Kila) in Delhi, one of the iconic venues glittered with lights from 6-8 October on the occasion of completing 25 years of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations, Ministry of External Affairs and Government of India in collaboration with Seher presented the first ever ASEAN – India Music Festival. With a unique concept, ASEAN and India shared common cultural and civilizational linkages that go back to the historical times.

The idea behind this initiative was to strengthen the ties between the countries through an increased people to people contact by exploring the similarities while celebrating the differences and providing a platform for the artistes and musicians to initiate a deeper understanding of the values and traditions of both ASEAN countries and India.

Seher founder Sanjeev Bhargava said, “Delhi is the host city for celebrations of the 25th year of ASEAN India Dialogue Relations and also the host for Government summit which is to be held in January. We're creating a buzz so that when India hosts a summit, people know what ASEAN truly is. This is the first taste of ASEAN for the people.”

The fest featured musicians and bands from the ten ASEAN member states (one band from each member state) and five bands from India. The ten bands from ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) and five bands from India performed together at one iconic stage.

The Seher team has been working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs since 2007. “We began with the preparations three months before the fest. This included selecting 10 best bands from different countries. We worked on the genre of music that could be performed. Based on their popularity, type of music, what fits in there, artistes were selected,” added Bhargava.

“This festival did not only initiate an interaction and deeper understanding and appreciation of the rich musical traditions of ASEAN and India and a one-to-one interaction between the participating bands but with this deeper understanding, the artists are almost cultural ambassadors for ASEAN and India now,” said Bhargava.

This unique festival was used as a platform to bring the youth of ASEAN and India together through widespread participation and publicity through electronic and social media. It also boosted and cultivated the cultural exchange between ASEAN and India and deepened the ties of friendship to further the theme of ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’.