All-Indian tunes to be played during Beating Retreat ceremony

New Delhi: The Raisina Hills here will reverberate with the sound of captivating and foot-tapping Indian tunes that will be played by military and paramilitary bands on Monday during the Beating Retreat ceremony.

The historic ceremony which takes place at Vijay Chowk in the heart of the national capital, marks the culmination of Republic Day celebrations.

The Raisina Hills “will witness all-Indian tunes” which will be played during the Beating Retreat ceremony on January 29, the defence ministry said in a statement.

‘The music bands of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will play 31 captivating and foot-tapping Indian tunes before a distinguished audience,’ it said.

The audience will comprise President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, several other union ministers, senior officials and the general public.

The ceremony will begin with the massed band’s ‘Shankhnaad’ tune which will be followed by enthralling tunes such as ‘Veer Bharat’, ‘Sangam Dur’, ‘Deshon ka Sartaj Bharat’, ‘Bhagirathi’, and ‘Arjuna’ by pipes and drums band, the ministry said.

The CAPF bands will play ‘Bharat Ke Jawan’ and ‘Vijay Bharat’ among others.

“’Tiger Hill’, ‘Rejoice in Raisina’ and ‘Swadeshi’ are among the tunes to be played by the band of the Indian Air Force, while the audience will witness the Indian Navy band playing a number of tunes, including ‘INS Vikrant’, ‘Mission Chandrayaan’, ‘Jai Bharati’ and ‘Hum Tayyar Hain’,” it said.

This will be followed by the Indian Army band playing ‘Faulad Ka Jigar’, ‘Agniveer’, ‘Kargil 1999’ and ‘Taqat Watan’ among others.

The massed bands will then play the tunes ‘Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja’, ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ and ‘Drummers Call’, the statement said.

“The event will come to a close with the ever-popular tune of ‘Sare Jahan se Acha’,” it added.