Johannesburg, May 27 (PTI): Renowned Indian singer Anup Jalota on Monday received the honorary membership of the Uttar Pradesh Devbhumi Sanghatan (UPDES), an organisation started by Indian expatriates in South Africa to promote Indian culture.
Jalota, who undertook two concerts in Durban and Johannesburg at the weekend, lauded local Indians for upholding their culture over five generations.
In an interview with PTI before his departure to the United States for a five-concert tour, Jalota recalled how he and many other leading Indian artistes wanted to come to perform for their fans in South Africa for decades, but were debarred by the Indian government from doing so while the country led the international fight against apartheid at the United Nations from 1948.
“We were so anxious to visit South Africa and perform, but we were not allowed. We were touring the entire globe except South Africa. We requested the government of India many times but it said no, the relations are not proper and you should not go,” he said.
Although he did not name them, Jalota said a few Indian artistes had indeed visited South Africa illegally and were subsequently banned on their return to India from All India Radio and other organisations.
Following the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years as a political prisoner, India finally relented and Jalota was among the first Indian artistes to visit South Africa on the eve of Mandela becoming the president of the country.
Jalota said he has since performed many times in South Africa and each time, the audience was very receptive to his bhajans and ghazals.
“South Africa is our Little India. Five generations later, they have still kept their culture alive. They still recite the Ramayan, they still have Hanuman Chalisa programmes, they have Hindu Vishnu Parishad. It is very impressive how the people have kept their culture and art alive,” he noted, adding that they need improvement in the area of language.
“I believe schools are already open for this, teaching Hindi, if they can talk in Hindi, I think culture will spread faster, so I hope this will happen too,” he said.
Jalota also lauded Ashish Sharma, founder of 24 Seven Travel and president of UPDES, for having hosted him and presenting him with the honorary membership of the organisation.
“I am from Uttar Pradesh myself and I feel honoured to be part of the association,” he said.
Sharma explained that UPDES promotes the culture of the parts of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh now known as Uttarakhand.
“There could therefore not be anyone else truly representing the culture of Uttarakhand than Anupji, because he is the Bhajan Samrat. He is the one who keeps us close to our culture, so he truly helps us achieve our objectives,” Sharma said.
He also explained why his company regularly sponsors Indian cultural events.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that our children retain our culture, not only for the expatriate community but also for local South African Indians. I think South African Indians are very close to their culture, but it is often the Indian Indians who need more classes to stay close to their culture,” Sharma said.
Jalota also lauded a few young Indian-origin South African singers as they performed some of his hit songs at a reception in his honour on Monday.
“They are actually singing my songs better than me, which ensures that this music will never die because it has meaning and depth and a touch of classical ragas. Modern music will come and go, but ‘Baharon Phool Barsao’ will remain forever,” he said.
One of the singers, Anil Rambaran, shared that he is the proud owner of not one but three harmoniums gifted to him by Jalota during his earlier visits. PTI FH RC
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
