Only Indian tunes at Beating Retreat ceremony

New Delhi, January 28

The ‘Beating the Retreat’ ceremony that will mark the culmination of 75th Republic Day celebrations will be have only Indian tunes and will end with ‘Saare Jahan se Achcha’.

The music bands of Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will play 31 Indian tunes.

President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are scheduled to attend the event at Vijay Chowk here on Monday.

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

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 the band of the Air Force, while the audience will witness the Navy band playing a number of tunes, including ‘INS Vikrant’, ‘Mission Chandrayaan’, ‘Jai Bharati’ and ‘Hum Tayyar Hain’.

This will be followed by the Indian Army band, which will play ‘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 event will come to a close with the popular tune of ‘Sare Jahan se Achcha’.

‘Beating the Retreat’ traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands.