A conch shell to trumpet a new note at Beating Retreat

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

For the first time, the ceremonial musical parade at Beating Retreat will begin with a massed band’s ‘Shankhnaad’ tune.

More on news:

The Beating Retreat ceremony at the Vijay Chowk that marks the end of Republic Day celebrations will this time see a new note being trumpeted at the musical parade.
On the Republic day parade, many female artistes were playing Indian musical instruments like Conch, Nadaswaram and Nagada.
The principal conductor of the ceremony will be Lt Col Vimal Joshi.

Desi beats

Over the last few years, the Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk has been seeing a shift in beat with more Indian tunes played, pushing out the colonial martial music and Christian hymns like ‘Abide With Me’.
This year the music bands of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) like the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
Among the rousing numbers played by the pipes and drums bands will be ‘Veer Bharat’, ‘Sangam Dur’, ‘Deshon ka Sartaj Bharat’, ‘Bhagirathi’, and ‘Arjuna’.
The CAPF bands will play ‘Bharat Ke Jawan’ and ‘Vijay Bharat’ among others.
‘Tiger Hill’, ‘Rejoice in Raisina’, and ‘Swadeshi’ are a few of the tunes to be played by the band of the IAF.
The Indian Navy band will enthrall the crowd with melodious notes of ‘INS Vikrant’, ‘Mission Chandrayaan’, ‘Jai Bharati’ and ‘Hum Tayyar Hain’.

Patriotic pitch

Raising the patriotic pitch further will be the Indian Army band’s numbers like ‘Faulad Ka Jigar’, ‘Agniveer’, ‘Kargil 1999’ and ‘Taqat Watan’ .
The crescendo will come when the Massed Bands then play popular favorites like ‘Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja’, ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ and ‘Drummers Call’.
Finally, the event will climax on the note of ‘Sare Jahan se Acha’.

About Beating Retreat:

Beating retreat in India officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities.
It is conducted on the evening of 29 Januarye. the third day after the Republic Day and is organized by Section D of the Ministry of Defence.
It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, and pipe bands from the Army, plus from 2016 a massed formation of bands of the Central Armed Police Forces and the Delhi Police.
The ceremony was started in 1955 and has been a hallmark of Republic Day celebrations ever since.
Brig Bewoor and Maj Roberts of Ceremonial and Welfare Directorate of Indian Army conceived the first Beating Retreat in India.
Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating to 17th-century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle.