Mysuru: As a part of the ‘December to Remember’ cultural extravaganza, one of the major roads of Mysuru, found itself the cynosure of all eyes as a mixture of Indian, western and folk musicals combined with a colourful costume extravaganza regaled the public.
The carnival was led by a Police band playing ‘Saare Jahan Se Accha’, ‘My regiment’, and ‘Bharat Ki Jawan’ tunes, pulled in the crowd initially. But the the big surprise yet to come. For the first time in India, ‘Kiriake’ a Swedish band, created a sensation, with a large crowd appreciating their unique drum beats and rhythmic steps.
The carnival was organised for the first time, as part of the tourism promotion programmes in the district. While the carnival had only a handful of teams, the energising performance of the procession which was provided abundant space by clearing the traffic on the busy DD Urs road, enthralled the audience. It was a ‘no parking zone’ at the time of the procession.
A 34-member Swedish band which included camera professionals was the unique part of the procession. ‘Nele-Hinnele’ troupe with folk costumes, Mounted Police force on the horses, folk troupes, bullock carts and tongas participated in the rally.
The carnival was flagged off at Amba Vilas Palace, where security was beefed up following a bomb blast at Bengaluru. The carnival passed through DD Urs Road, before culminating at the Oval Grounds, near the DC’s office. Students from Department of Youth Empowerment and sports services and many others participated.
At the premises of DC office when Kiriake band performed, afraid by the sound, a mounted horse panicked the organisers as it went out of control of the rider. The spectators who were watching the programme ran aside finally the organisers had to stop the show as precautionary measure.
MLA M K Somashekar, Mayor R Lingappa, Deputy Commissioner C Shikha, MCC Commissioner C G Betsurmath and others were present.
‘Kiriake’ band
Kiriake band, headed by the beat master Jonathan Hellberg is a 34 member team, of which 30 hailed from Sweden, and four from Norway. The band played both drums and percussion instruments, such as repinique, surdo, tarol, timbal (all drums) and agogo (a percussion instrument).
The vision is to promote an international understanding, combining culture and community involvement, highlighting social injustice and through the power of music to create understanding between people of different backgrounds, circumstances and cultures. The band has performed in Brazil, Morocco, USA, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and many other countries.
Jonathan said that the band played musical samba and reggae, a rhythm music tradition from North Eastern Brazil. “We have adapted the form in our band and have been playing at an international destination every year, since Kiriake was founded in 2001,” he said.
Bjorn Mankner, one of the founders of the band, said that Kiriake was formed to participate in political demonstrations and later became an organised performing band. The band is still active during demonstrations, back in Sweden, he said. The band had 26 ladies and 9 men.
The band also performed during the cultural programmes held at Open Air Theatre during the day.
