Indian beats of Beating Retreat 2018 enthrall audiences

New Delhi, January 29: Basing to the roots the Beating Retreat ceremony witnessed the Indian tune flavour performed by 26 bands of armed forces, central police and state police contingents at Vijay Chowk. The ceremony is ought to be the one when the four day Republic Day celebration comes to an end. The ceremony creates a nostalgia for the time gone by.

 

The ceremony held on January 29 every year marks the culmination of the four-day-long Republic Day celebrations. As many as 26 performances were lined up by the Army, Navy, Air Force, state police and Central Armed Police Force bands taking turns to fascinate the audience including the president and other dignitaries.

Out of the 26 performances, 25 tunes have been composed by Indian musicians, which are ‘Indian Soldiers’, ‘Jhelum’, ‘Aj Diya Rati’, ‘Herana Herana’, ‘Nritya Sarita’, ‘Kundan Singa’, ‘Mayur Nritya’, ‘Manohar’, ‘Natraj’, ‘Battle of the Sky’, ‘Sitare Hind’, ‘Mushkoh Valley’, ‘Giri Raj’, ‘Tejas’, ‘Gagan Shakti’, ‘The Great Marshal’, ‘The Brave Warriors’, ‘INS Nilgiri’, ‘Namaste India’, ‘Jai Bharti’, ‘Amrit Wani’, ‘Veer Gorkha’ and ‘Shere-E-Jawan’, while ‘Power of Sound’ and ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ are two new compositions. The only western tune will be ‘Abide with me’.

The event came to a closure with the ever-popular tune of ‘Sare Jahan se Acha’. This year, 18 military bands, 15 pipes and drums bands from regimental centres and battalions were seen participating in the ceremony.

Besides one each of Indian Navy and Indian Air Force band will also form part of the event. Another band of the State Police and CAPF comprising Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Delhi Police will also take part.

‘Beating the Retreat’ has emerged as an event of national pride when the Colours and Standards are paraded. The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands. ‘Beating Retreat’ marks a centuries old military tradition, when the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield and returned to the camps at sunset at the sounding of the Retreat. Colours and Standards are cased and flags lowered.