This is a historic recording of Sri Chinmoy’s first major Peace Concert on 24 March 1984.
Sri Chinmoy’s Cologne concert, 1984
Last modified June 20, 2019
Over 8,000 people attended the concert held at Kölner Sporthalle in Koln (Cologne), Germany. Sri Chinmoy gave the title of the concert as “Peace: God’s Beauty in His Oneness-Home”. Like other aspects of Sri Chinmoy’s activities, the concert was offered free.
The concert proved to be the first of approximately 800 Peace Concerts which were offered around the world, including venues, such as the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall London and Carnegie Hall, NY.
In the early 1970s, Sri Chinmoy gave some small scale concerts, but mostly gave public talks and held public meditations. The Peace Concert series was a new direction; Sri Chinmoy felt that through soulful music, concert-goers could experience the peace of meditation because music touches the heart and bypasses the mind.
“When we listen to soulful music, or when we ourselves play soulful music, immediately our inner existence climbs up high, higher, highest. It climbs up and enters into something beyond.”
– Sri Chinmoy, from God the Supreme Musician [1]
In this concert, Sri Chinmoy began with a silent meditation, and then played the echo flute. The second recording was the cello, with Sri Chinmoy singing some of his best-known songs, such as Ore Mor Kheya and Hiya Pakhi.
After a ten-minute esraj performance, Sri Chinmoy continued singing, accompanied with the harmonium; songs included Jiban Debata, Bhulite Diyona and “Never say no” (in German)
Poster from the historic concert
Poster credit: Kedar Misani
Sri Chinmoy would later speak of his concert in Cologne:
“I have given hundreds of concerts, but I will never forget Cologne. It gave me the utmost joy and satisfaction.”
When asked about his Peace Concerts, Sri Chinmoy explained what he hope to offer to the audience.
Question: Could you talk about the concert that you will be giving?
Sri Chinmoy: It is a Peace Concert. This world of ours has everything save and except one thing: peace. And this peace has to start from within. If I have peace of mind, then only can I be of help to you. If you have peace of mind, then only can you be of help to me. This peace of mind we can get from our peaceful meditation and our prayerful life, not from political talk. Not by talking, but by praying and becoming something good can we offer peace to others. So I play quite a few instruments and offer soulful music — not the music that stimulates our vital,but the music that increases our inner hunger, which is love of God. 1
Related
- Video of Cologne Concert at Sri Chinmoy TV
Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Release year: 1984
Related tag: Peace Concert
Duration: 52:08
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Tracks and notes: Kamalakanta Nieves + Tejvan Pettinger
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
