Strings perform for the president of India

Event is a preview of the South Asian Bands Festival 2013 which will be held till December.

Strings became the first ever band from Pakistan to perform before an Indian president at the Indian President’s house, the Rashtrapati Bahavan, in New Delhi, India. They performed for Shri Pranab Mukherjee on November 28.

This event was a preview of the South Asian Bands Festival 2013, which will be held at Purana Qilla, New Delhi from November 29 till December, where 14 popular rock bands from nine countries of the sub-continent will perform. Two other bands also performed at this event. They were LRB AKA Love Runs Blind from Bangladesh, and Advaita from India. Each band performed a 20-minute individual set, and came together for a 10-minute grand finale.

“It was an absolute honour and prestige to perform in front of the Indian president,” says Strings lead singer Faisal Kapadia. “It gave us an opportunity to sample Pakistani popular rock music for him.” Strings sang Duur, Sar Kiye and Zinda in their individual set, and the finale comprised of Laal Meri. “Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were once one nation. Today, boundaries may divide us, but if our music can unite us in our hearts then we’d want nothing more,” says bandmate Bilal Maqsood.

These musical ambassadors of Pakistan, Bilal and Faisal, were felicitated by the president of India onstage post performance.

The event was witnessed by many dignitaries from India. Shri Farooq Abdullah, who is the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, was one of the dignitaries present, and post event extended an invitation to the band to perform in his home state of Kashmir next year. Strings is now looking forward to that event.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2013.

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