BOSTON—Boston singer Anuradha Palakurthi will sing at the special climate concert and musical tribute to blue planet on Dec. 6, 2023, at the Dubai Opera during the historic UN COP28 Climate Summit.
“We are looking at 2000 guests from 170 countries to come to the Dubai Opera for this historic evening aligned with the UN COP28 Climate Summit,” said George Jacob, president and CEO of San Francisco-based Bay Ecotarium and host of the Climate Concert. “Anuradha brings a level of passion that implores the world to pay heed to our planet in distress and in need of healing, restoration and resonance with the voices of caution and hope for humanity.”
Mr. Jacob said that Ms. Palakurthi, also known as Juju, would be opening the landmark Climate Concert with a dedicated Climate Theme song written by Neelesh Misra and composed by Ricky Kej.
“The Climate theme song aptly titled “chal phir sajayen” is a call to action to heal the earth from the scourge and scars of carbon induced avarice that has grown into an existential threat that we can no longer afford to ignore,” Mr. Jacob told INDIA New England News. “Music has the power to heal and unite us into a collective resolve for greater good.”
The concert, titled RESONANCE, will also feature multi-Grammy winner and UN Goodwill Ambassador Ricky Kej, who will lead the world in a musical prayer for peace and resonance. Mr. Kej will be accompanied by legendary drummer and co-founder of The Police, Stewart Copeland, and the Dubai-based, all-women Firdaus Orchestra led by Maestro Monica Woodman.
The climate concert is hosted by the San Francisco-based and Smithsonian-affiliated Bay Ecotarium, which is committed to climate resilience and ocean conservation.
“Since we lived as hunter-gatherers there are documented stories, prayers, incantations from different civilizations that preach balanced exploitation and respect for earth – agriculture, wildlife conversation, fishing, trees,” said Ms. Palakurthi. “Industrial progress made us forget those values. It is time for us to go back. I realize that I am but a small cog in this effort to restore earth’s resonance – and that is the title of the song – Restoring Resonance.”
UN Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Kej’s passion and palpable energy touch hearts and minds across the globe and spur transformational change in climate conversations.
“All of us are transient guardians of this blue marble we call home. Join us in chorus in resonance to restore our beautiful planet,” Mr. Kej, who has dedicated his life to bringing awareness to sustainable futures and climate resilience through his award-winning music, said in a statement.
In a world fraught with dissonance from climate crises, many are grappling with excessive flooding, unprecedented fires, extinction of species, global warming, sea-level rise, acidification of the skies, and ocean pollution. These isolated incidents are increasingly intertwined with human avarice and a disregard for symbiotic eco-synthesis.
Ms. Palakurthi’s performance in singing the ‘Climate Theme Song’ states that “turning dissonance into RESONANCE is the musical mantra that is sacred and sacrosanct to our collective futures.”
Widely regarded for her singing versatility across genres and in multiple languages, Ms. Palakurthi won Radio Mirchi’s best independent song, Indian-equivalent of the Grammys, making her the first US nominee to do so. She was also one of the featured singers in the Filmfare Award winning show Times of Music with Bappi Lahiri and Vishal Shekhar.
She has performed and produced music with Bollywood stars such as Kumar Sanu, Suresh Wadkar, Deepak Pandit , Salim Sulaiman, Mika Singh, Vijay Prakash, Hariharan, Bappi Lahiri, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shivamani, Guitar Prasanna, Bappa Lahiri and others.
Mr. Jacob said that the Climate Concert is being organized to raise awareness and climate literacy so that people can collectively make informed decisions about restoring our planet for a better tomorrow.
While the program is a musical evening, the key speakers include Her Excellency Mariam Al Mheiry, the Honorable Climate Change and Environment Minister of the UAE, Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary UNCCD. Mr. Jacob, President & CEO of Bay Ecotarium and Andrew Steer, President & CEO of the world’s largest private corpus to address climate change- the Jeff Bezos Earth Fund.
