Beating Retreat, a martial music ceremony, is held on January 29 every year as the culmination of Republic Day celebrations. This year, the 45-minute performance of military music has already triggered a controversy after the ministry of defence decided to drop the popular Christian hymn 'Abide With Me'.
'Abide With Me', written in the 19th century by Scottish poet Henry Francis Lyte, was believed to be a favourite of M.K. Gandhi. The plan is to replace the Christian hymn with Vande Mataram.
This is not the first time that the government tried to Indianise the event. In 2016, a classical musician was brought in to be part of the military band ceremony. Indian classical instruments like sitar, santoor and tabla were heard for the first time during a military ceremony.
However, in the wake of criticism from the military fraternity, classical musicians were removed from the ceremony last year.
Though the government has not come out with an official word on the issue, officials claimed that emphasis is more on Indian tunes. Interestingly, 'Abide With Me' was part of the Beating Retreat ceremony since 1950. The celebrations include performances by bands of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force at the Raisina Hill complex.
In a bid to end the controversy, the ministry officials claimed that they keep changing tunes to bring freshness to the musical extravaganza. "It is nothing new. Every year, we experiment with new tunes....Efforts are on to have more popular Indian tunes," an official, based in South Block, said on condition anonymity. All tunes are finalised by the ceremonial and welfare directorate under Adjutant General’s branch of the Army headquarters.
In 2019, 18 military bands and 15 pipes and drums bands from regimental centres and battalions took part in the ceremony, and out of the 27 performances, 19 tunes were composed by Indian musicians, including Paharon ki Rani, Kumaoni Geet, Jai Janam Bhumi, Queen of Satpura and Vijay Bharat. The eight western tunes included Fanfare by Buglers, Sound Barrier, Emblazoned, Twilight and Drummers Call, along with Abide With Me. The event comes to a end with the ever-popular tune 'Sare Jahan Se Achcha'.
Beating Retreat meant that the battle was called off for the day and and soldiers returned to their camps in the evening. It is notable that martial music played a vital role in motivating men on the battlefield and was played on all occasions, in victory or in defeat.
