mumbai in a country freshly engulfed in communal hatred and blood lust the forgotten voice of its greatest prophet of peace may no longer be a panacea but his philosophyencompassed in narsi mehtas stirring bhajan vaishnava jana to tene kahiyewill nevertheless come alive again on october 2this gandhi jayanti the sarvodaya international trust and the national centre for the performing arts will host a concert called anaahat naad the unstruck sound a blend of performances from musicians from all over the countryconceptualised by ncpa chairperson vijaya mehta and vocalist shubha mudgal anaahat naad is a reaffirmation of mahatma gandhis perennially relevant message of peace as ms mehta puts it we are seeking to celebrate the still vibrant legacy of cultural pluralism in this country she saysthe idea for anaahat naad came to ms mehta a few months ago at a meeting of the sarvodaya board shyam benegal gerson da cunha coomi wadia ajit wadekar and i were discussing the distressing events of gujarat and the need for us to go back and reflect on gandhian philosophy in the light of this she says thats when we decided to have a cultural event which would be spiritual without getting into any specific religionthe concept took shape once shubha mudgal entered the scene initially only a participant the singer was instrumental in transforming the event from a bhakti sangeet samaroh to a concert which carried a definite message i have been involved in work like this before she says so i suggested a different repertoirechosen primarily to highlight the diverse strands that are woven into the musical tradition of india respect for all communities and cultures is an inherent part of indian musicwhether its khayal or a worship ritual like haveli sangeet theres give and take a borrowing from different sources in every musical formthe programme thus includes such elements as an invocation to lord krishna written by a muslim krishnabhakt taj bibi shruti sadolikar who is rendering this bhajan told us that at kankroli a place near udaipur taj bibis jewellery is still displayed every janmashtami says ms mehta and a tarana by aslam khan i suggested the tarana because it is a form that has many influences says ms mudgal it can have persian couplets sometimes sanskrit verses and is a wonderful example of composite culture ms mudgal herself will render a nirgun bhajan hamare ram rahim karima kaisothe rest of the repertoire includes aruna sairams rendition of allah by subramania bharati a kirtan by ragi bhai baldeep singh an abhang by keshav badge amir khusros celebrated chhaap tilak sab chhini re mose naina milaike rendered by ghulam hussain niyazi f mendelsshons judge me o god sung by the paranjoti academy chorus and kelucharan mohapatras dance recital of a composition by salbeg a leprosyafflicted muslim