Hindus, Sikhs take center stage at InterFaith Concert in Washington
Sunday 18 November 2007

Amritsar, Nov 17 (ANI): Hindus and Sikhs took centre stage at the recently held 28th InterFaith Concert in Washington, where nearly 1400 people from different religion participated.  

Sikh Kirtani Jatha and the participants of Hindu religion of the Pushpanjali group and many other faiths added to this celebration.

Talking to ANI from Washington, Dr. Rajwant Singh, Executive Director of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, and who also formed the Sikh Kirtani Jatha 20 years ago, said, "This concert help create a better understanding of each other's beliefs and convictions. This certainly fills one with the genuine feeling of goodwill towards each other."

"This concert gives us an opportunity to project our religious image to others. We can be a part of the main stream and still maintain our identity while understanding prayer traditions of other faiths," he added.

Musicians, singers and dancers from nine other historic faiths were also participated, including Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu-Jain, Jewish, Islamic Mormon, Roman Catholic, and Protestant.

Mistress of ceremonies for the evening was the Washington media celebrity, J.C. Hayward of WUSA- TV 9, who skilfully narrated the performances.

The night's event began with opening prayer by the Adhan - call of prayer by Muslims and invocation by Vasanthi Athavale and Kusum Raghavan, who recited the Hindu chants of 'Om Shanti'.

The event ended with a combined choir of all faiths in which 200 participants sang the glory of God under the director J. Reilly Lewis. This choir of all the participants in their colourful traditional attire presented the audience with a spectacular sight.

Gurleen Kaur, an American Sikh had performed Tanpura with the Sikh group while the Hindu dance was choreographed by Renuka Sahay, who is the director of the Pushpanjali Dance group. They presented the two invocations to Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva in Bharat Natyam Style. (ANI)

- AY