New Delhi, Aug 24 (IBNS): India’s top musicians brought ‘Shukrana’ a musical celebration, to express gratitude to Parliamentarians across political parties for the passing of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Thursday evening at the Parliament’s G.M.C Balayogi Auditorium.
The night was attended by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur, HRD, Communications & IT Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and L K Advani, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Lyricist and MP Javed Akhtar, who was instrumental in the campaigning for the bill, said, “Representing the industry, I am very pleased to see the Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 passed after two long years. As a lyricist, today’s proceedings have been instrumental in giving today’s musicians their rightful share.”
Lyricists, singers and musicians will be now be entitled to share profits as royalty with music companies and producers through the passing of this Bill.
In order to express their gratitude to the Parliamentarians, a line up artists comprising of A.R. Rahman, Sonu Niigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Mohit Chauhan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Javed Ali and Jaswinder Singh, and noted lyricists Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Sameer and Prasoon Joshi performed to a packed house.
A grand dinner followed where the musicians were presented mementos.
The show featured poetry recitals by Gulzar and Javed Akhtar.
Actor Shabhana Azmi along with a number of celebrities graced the occasion with their presence supporting the passing of the bill.
The stalwart of the industry Anandji also attended the evening.
The event was presented by The Music Composers Association of India (MCAI) and the Indian music fraternity and was conceptualized and produced by events and brand activation pioneers, Wizcraft International.
