Ahmedabad: The next time you look at the armed forces on a parade ground, there is a more likely that you can listen to the Indian National Army’s anthem ‘Kadam Kadam Badahay,’ instead of ‘Colonel Bogi March’ since 1914. Marking a cultural innings, the band of the Armed Forces in 2022 adopted ‘Aye Mere Watan’s logo’ during the beating retreat ceremony on the Kartavya Path instead of the traditional ‘Abide with Me’. To carry forward this initiative, the new inauguration of NCC is the School and the Police Martial Music Band (SNPMB) at the President Raksha University (Rru). At RRU School, the objectives of the officers are to train the state police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to the newly created Indian tunes and prepare new people for martial music.,It is the first such school in the establishment of a university in the country. So far, the band was traditionally trained in special colleges and training schools in uniformed services.Senior RRU officials say that inspiration is to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s music not only entertainment, but to make a vehicle for expression, connection and identity. He said that in 2016, the initiative started with the use of Indian tunes on major occasions.Major (retired) Ashok Kumar, Principal of the school and former director of music at the school’s joint service training institute, AEC Training College and Center, Pacharahi – who trains musicians for the armed forces – says that military bands have traditionally been part of more than a century military tradition. “We have more than 200 tunes that are used for various tasks and ceremonies. In the last decade, Indian experts are creating many notation and tunes that are contained in our culture. Our aim is to create new tunes for both CAPF and police forces bands and teach these bands new Indian tunes, “Major Kumar says.Some examples of such tunes include ‘Veer Bharat’ and ‘Amarranani’ composed by Indian military musicians. Now they are played regularly in various state and armed forces events. “Ins Vikrant,” Veer Bharat, “Desh Pukere,” Vayu Shakti, “Hindustan, and ‘Priyadarshan” are some other examples that reflect a rich Indian voice.SNPMB senior instructor Renjith ji says that the school is trying to go one step further and create Indian raga and rhythm-based music in a global music language. He said, “Our initiative is to make the country’s rich music heritage and the original Indian tunes contained in heritage.”Dr. Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Director in charge of the school, calls the Indian martial music tradition a major initiative in India.“Our aim is mainly to teach Indian tunes to CAPF and State Police Band. We aim to provide security forces to trained musicians who will learn Indian tunes and information, “they say.The first batch of 40 musicians of Rajasthan Police Central Band is already being trained in the university. RRU officials say the courses are designed for in-service musicians and candidates at many levels-from Diploma to PhD. Students will be taught in Indian and Western music systems, orchens, band drill protocols, formal etiquette and theoretical training.The first initiative for the overhaul will be the formation of the National Music Classification Forum which will try to find Indian options for Western Bugle Calls such as Reval, Last Post and Retreat.
