Kindness can be infectious. And, at the recent Kindness Concert held at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, it sure did catch on. Organised by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) , the concert served as the finale for the first-ever World Youth Conference on Kindness and saw Grammy Award Winner Ricky Kej, Laura Dickinson (Singer & Grammy Winner from the USA), Brennon Denfer, Manoj George, Fateh Ali Khan, Murad Ali Khan, IP Singh, and Manjunath come together to give the audience a musical treat like no other.
What made this concert so different, you ask? Although the Dogra Hall of IIT Delhi could just accommodate a few hundred in the audience the energy that flowed through the room would have put any DU fest to shame. Each song, be it dedicated to the Ganga, the Elephants or the Great Indian Hornbill, resonated with the crowd and students were actually seen singing and humming along to songs they hadn’t really heard before. That’s something, right? Kej also gave the audience a simple affirmation of sorts — What matters? Kindness Matters, that came up throughout the performance, just to remind everyone to be kind and spread kindness.
It feels very good when you can inspire people through music
Kej too, felt this energy like we did and said, “It felt really really good. The audience was very receptive, and that’s always good because you end up putting more into the concert. I’ve always enjoyed performing in Delhi, and the thing with the audience here, in general, is that when they come to a concert, they just want to have fun. They want to forget about their everyday worries and want to enjoy themselves, and that’s what I felt yesterday. The message also resonated with the audience really well, especially the Elephant song where I noticed that at least 20-30 people I could see had tears in their eyes. I’ve dedicated my life solely to this message, I don’t do pop or film music, and it, of course, feels very good when you can inspire people through music. And, that is a blessing in itself.”
{{/usCountry}}Kej too, felt this energy like we did and said, “It felt really really good. The audience was very receptive, and that’s always good because you end up putting more into the concert. I’ve always enjoyed performing in Delhi, and the thing with the audience here, in general, is that when they come to a concert, they just want to have fun. They want to forget about their everyday worries and want to enjoy themselves, and that’s what I felt yesterday. The message also resonated with the audience really well, especially the Elephant song where I noticed that at least 20-30 people I could see had tears in their eyes. I’ve dedicated my life solely to this message, I don’t do pop or film music, and it, of course, feels very good when you can inspire people through music. And, that is a blessing in itself.”
{{/usCountry}}Ricky has changed something inside us
Stuti and David, a couple who had come to attend the concert said that they had never felt so strongly about saving the environment or simply being kind, and it was the music and the energy at the gig that made them want to do more, be more. “I don’t know if we’ll get to tell Ricky this but today we felt like we’re actually doing something wrong. We’ve been living without any thought about the environment, and it is weird and beautiful that just a few minutes with an artist, who we haven’t heard before and only know because he won the Grammy award, has changed something inside us and made us believe that we too can make a difference,” said David.
Let you light shine
The musicians also launched ‘Shine Your Light’— the official anthem for the #KindnessMatters campaign — something that audience loved singing along to and even requested for an encore that the group just couldn’t say no to. What’s better is that everyone was literally shining their (flash)lights during the entire performance, which made it even more special. “I am so moved by this anthem. It is great music with a greater message, and surely a language everyone can understand — music. I am so glad I could be a part of this experience. I wouldn’t have missed this for anything in the world. Ricky indeed let our light shine with this masterpiece,” said Manuel George,a student at the concert.
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