World music conference attracts 30 countries
Over 30 counties and 150 children attended the fifth Annual World Music Conference (WMC), organised by the British Carnatic Choir, is the flagship event in the Midlands.
The WMC aims to bring together youth, artists, musicians, professionals of all age groups, faith, race, and cultural backgrounds, to share good values, practices, knowledge, common values and to promote peace, harmony, and unity.
The conference theme focused on exploring the role of music in prenatal health, development health in children and behavioural patterns in adolescents.
The over-arching aim of the two-day conference was to bring together and provide a premier interdisciplinary platform for leading academicians, scientists, researchers, and music scholars to share and exchange their perspectives on the conference theme.
The conference included musical performance by young people, talks and keynote speeches and panel discussion by 25 key experts in music, music education, psychology and arts and culture management.
The conference also hosted the virtual awards ceremony of the British Carnatic Choir Awards for Arts and Culture 2021 of which Dr A.R. Rahman, the Grammy and Academy winning musician and composer, won for his marquee project, The Sunshine Orchestra.
Young talented musicians from The Sunshine Orchestra performed the theme music at the WMC.
The WMC was in partnership with Consul General of India in Birmingham, West Midlands Combined Authority, Birmingham City University and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire as our Education Partners, The Nehru Centre in London (Cultural Wing of Indian High Commission in the UK), Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, ABCC, and a host of premier institutions and corporates from across the UK and abroad.
Other performances spanned across countries such as Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, UAE, as well as choral orchestral music by young people from Hongkong, Greece, Romania, Iraq, Egypt and Brazil. The conference also included a special showcase of Indian Classical Music to commemorate the celebrations of the 75th year of Indian Independence.
Dr. Chithra Ramakrishnan, founder director of the British Carnatic Choir, said: “The mental health of young people and adolescents is of increasing concern during the pandemic times, particularly and music is a powerful tool to help them relax, to protect children from damaging experiences and psychological disorders which can affect them well into adulthood.
“The conference has helped many young people from across the globe to encourage, come together and showcase their musical talents amidst challenging situations. This is a true reflection of their passion, commitment, and resilience to come together using music as a powerful medium. Besides the excellent panel of experts from various disciplines sharing their valuable perspectives on the conference theme, the conference aims to emphasise on the mental health and mental health awareness in schools, which is the need of the hour.
“Every child should be encouraged to take up a singing / instrumental music lesson, in addition to having sessions about mental health awareness. We are delighted to receive the excellent support from various professional organisations from across the U.K. and elsewhere to address and convey this important message to far and many. ”