During an evening ceremony held at the Embassy, the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councillor Dr. Ignazio Cassis, honored eight Friendship Ambassadors who have contributed towards strengthening Swiss-Indian relations through their innovative ideas in their respective fields. The highlights of the celebrations included a concert by the Swiss Military Small Band as well as a multi-media dance performance, which resulted from a collaboration between the National Institute of Design and the Lucerne School of Applied Arts.
Meet our Friendship Ambassadors:
Dr. Johannes BELTZ, Deputy Director, Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Museum Rietberg, Zurich
Ms. Gitanjali DANG, Curator, Writer, Researcher, Founder of arts lab Khanabadosh
Mrs. Sushma IYENGAR, Social activist and educator, Founder of women’s collective Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan
Dr. Rajendra Kumar JOSHI and Mrs. Ursula JOSHI, Founders of the Rajendra & Ursula Joshi Foundation JCF
Ms. Aparna RAO, Art duo Pors & Rao, Founder of animatronics lab PATHOS, Wyss Zurich, ETHZ / UZH
Mr. Ranjit SHAHANI, Former Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Novartis India, and past President, Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce
Mr. Govinda UPADHYAY, Founder and CEO of LEDsafari, Lausanne
Read about our Friendship Ambassadors: https://bit.ly/2nmO0uI
About the Swiss Military Band, directed by First Lieutenant Axel Catillaz:
Fifteen of the finest young military musicians from the Brass Band Recruit School 16-1/2018, who finished their 18-week basic training in May 2018, form this ad hoc ensemble and now have the unique opportunity to perform together on a voluntary basis. They come from all over Switzerland and are all musicians in civilian music ensemble. Some of them have even won national and international music competitions.
The repertoire of the ensemble not only includes traditional songs like ‘S'isch äbe ne Mönsch uf Ärde’ and various Swiss marches, but also all the national anthems of the host countries, favourites such as ‘Riverdance’ by Bill Whelan and classical pieces such as the ‘Toccata in D minor’ by Johann Sebastian Bach.
About “Parallels”:
“Parallels” is a multi-media dance project that resulted out of the collaboration between the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Art and Design. The performance combines traditional Indian dance from South India “Bharatnatyam” with expanded animation in order to talk about the environment and sustainability. The main production is a choreography by Nrityabharati, a professional dance group, under the visual direction of Mr. François Chalet, lecturer at the Lucerne school, in collaboration with Alumni and Students of the NID. The production truly reflects the spirit of Friendship, where innovation and tradition match up to poetically express the concerns of today’s world about our environment and the sustainability of the planet.
Performed by: Nrityabharati, Ahmedabad | Visual Director: François Chalet, Art – Design, Lucerne University of Applied Arts | Animation Director: Sekhar Mukherjee, National Institute of Design | Sound and technical: A Bhaskar Rao
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Ruchita Jindal, Communication Officer, Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi, Email: Ruchita.Jindal@eda.admin.ch
