Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Sept 8: The Srinagar concert by renowned conductor of Bavarian State Orchestra, Zubin Mehta, has been marred by fresh controversy posing diplomatic embarrassment for German Ambassador, Michael Steiner, the organiser of the event.
General Manager of the Bavarian State Opera and Bavarian State Orchestra, Nikolaus Bachler, in an exclusive interview to the Excelsior described the Shalimar Garden concert as an Embassy concert for elites and accused German Ambassador of misleading the Bavarian State Orchestra.
“We were misled by German Embassy. We will raise this issue with the German Government that art can’t be exploited by anyone, be it Governments or by Embassy or any political group. It is art, it speaks itself”, said angry Nikolaus.
The General Manager said that musicians waived off their fee for people’s concert and not for elites who could have afforded the tickets.
“The musicians, all the 80, waived the fees for Kashmiri people and not for an elite event. We didn’t waive the fees for an Embassy concert. Be sure this will be an issue in Germany”, said Nikolaus.
He said that it was a people’s event but German Embassy made it VIP concert. “It was from artists, from Musicians to give concert for Kashmiri people. And this was the idea of Zubin Mehta and the Musicians to come here was music and to meet in the language of music. But what German Embassy made out of it was a VIP event which I find is completely against the art and against what it could be”, he added.
Nikolaus called German Ambassador as over ambitious. “And in my opinion this is the consequence of over ambitious German Ambassador who overrules this and so it becomes a political issue which I understand, because it suddenly becomes State’s statement. This is contrary to what it is. So, I just wanted people to know that our goal is different. The goal is to meet the people, to play for the people and not for the selection or the celebrities. So this was just I want to say before, I leave”, he added.
Nikolaus posed questioned over the handling of the event by German Embassy in New Delhi. “This was a beautiful effort and gesture from Zubin Mehta and all the artists and very unfortunate handling by German Embassy. It is the same message as Zubin did send yesterday. We want to play for everyone and why next time why not yesterday.”
Nikolaus expressed his displeasure over excluding people of Kashmir. “People have been excluded. We do concerts and operas all around and everywhere it is open and even in Munich we make public view with no charging.”
Nikolaus said that people were open for visit of the Orchestra. “I was here before the concert privately for one week. I met people in the mountains and everyone was open for the visit of Musicians”, he said.
Nikolaus termed the behaviour of the Ambassador as undiplomatic. “And something struck me this morning when I read comments about the concert in the newspaper. One doctor said that what he could make of the concert was I found myself barricaded and I couldn’t reach the hospital. And this is such a contradiction to what we do and I think it is very un-diplomatic behaviour”, he added.
Nikolaus rubbished the theories put forth by the Ambassador that people were kept out of the concert for security reasons. “I also want to stress on one point there is an argument about security. I would say, an English football match for hundred thousand people has more security problems. And this is not an argument that you have to select people for security reasons. We could have opened it for the public who wanted to come”, he added.
Nikolaus said that musicians wanted participation of common people who were kept at a distance from the concert. “We love to be here and musicians love to play here and it was a beautiful concert and we would have loved people of Srinagar and Kashmiris see this concert.”
However, Zubin Mehta told Excelsior that Kashmiris were part of the concert. “Nothing went wrong. There were 28 sponsors and they had to be invited and among others there were Kashmiris. They were chosen by the Jammu and Kashmir Government and German Embassy. There were 2700 and all 2700 could not be elite”, he added.
Zubin said that next time he will perform in a Stadium in Kashmir. “Next time I will perform for more Kashmiris may be in a stadium. When Shalimar Bagh was offered to us, how can I say no to such an incredible atmosphere?”, he added.
When asked when he will perform in Kashmir, Zubin said: “Whenever Geelani (Syed Ali Shah Geelani) wants me. Basically I have no animosity, I am his friend. I can see their point of view but I don’t want the whole world to see this infighting. Do something positive for Kashmir”, he added.
“I say this thing everywhere. I said in Israel as well. I am against the settlements. We have to live together. I don’t want to go to 1947. Mistakes have been made. But let us live together”, Zubin told Excelsior.
“I know there was an opposition, I was hurt by some of the things they said without knowing all the details. I was hurt by the statements about this elite business. We had sponsors like Lufthansa and BMW and we had to provide them tickets and seats and I don’t know how much others were given. I don’t deal with that. I deal with music”, said Zubin.
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