Harmonious musical comes to town
February 6th, 2008
Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Vivekanand, a mono act musical play by talented Indian singer, composer, lyricist and actor Shekhar Sen, will be staged Wednesday, Feb. 6, at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, to honor influential Vedanta philosopher Swami Vivekananda (1862-1902).
Shekhar Sen has performed more than 1,000 shows around the world in an aim to spread the ageless and universal message of peace, love and harmony through his plays.
Vivekanand is his third mono musical after Tulsi and Kabeer. All three plays carry the same message; the value of religious harmony.
Swami Vivekananda, born as Narendranath Dutta, is widely known as the messenger of the Eastern wisdoms, particularly Hinduism and the tradition of Vedanta, to the Western world. In 1893, he spoke before the World’s Parliament of Religions, offering the message of shared spirituality and harmony of world faiths.
His speech catapulted him to fame and since then he began giving lectures on Vedanta philosophy to his Western audiences in America and England. He was the first Indian to be honored with a professorship of Oriental Philosophy by Harvard University.
His dynamic spiritual personality and the universality of his religious convictions won the hearts and minds of truth-seekers. His vision: “Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached”, is still treasured by many until today.
The two-hour play Vivekanand by Shekhar Sen presents the life of Swami Vivekananda. It tells the stories of Vivekananda’s childhood, the impact of the religious Brahma Samaj group on him, his longing and eagerness to find God and the meeting with his great mentor, Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa.
Shekhar writes, directs and acts in all his musicals, including Vivekanand. He was born into a musical family from Chhattisgarh and came to Mumbai to make music for movies, but was unsuccessful. His failures led him to spiritualism and he began to stage devotional music concerts and make records with research-based themes.
A visit to the U.S. in 1997 to attend a conference on the Ramayana opened his eyes to the impact of Indian culture across the world. This inspired him to write his first musical play Tulsi, which tells the story of the great Hindi poet Goswami Tulsidas (1532-1623).
The artist said he had a very intimate relationship with the characters in his plays.
“I must admit that I don’t start with definite plots or plans in mind. I go on writing for almost a year and the characters guide me … rather than I write them,” Shekhar said in an interview with www.mumbaitheatreguide.com.
The inspirational and highly acclaimed play on the life of the great spiritual leader Vivekananda by Shekhar has been brought to Jakarta by the India Club.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Entry Filed under: World Tourism News
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