Music binds hearts and heals souls, no matter which part of the world they hail from, said Ayumi Ueda, the founder of an all-woman global band that performed in the city today.
Ueda, along with three of her companions, have set out on their maiden musical tour in India - their first stop being the City of Joy.
The quartet, all graduates of Berklee College of Music, also held a workshop for the music enthusiasts of the city at GD Birla Sabhaghar.
'Women of the World', a "multi-racial vocal ensemble", was founded by Ueda in 2008 to connect with people from different cultures and backgrounds, Annette Philip, another member who has roots in Kerala, said.
"Our group consists of vocalists who sing in as many as 32 languages, including French, Italian and Hindi. At today's concert, we performed a Bengali song, composed by lyricist and singer Anupam Roy. It was our first," Philip explained during an interaction with reporters here.
Ueda, who hails from Hiroshima in Japan, said she wanted to use the healing power of music to cure people of their ailments.
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"I work on ways to use music therapy for healing people. I believe sound vibrations from singing together could lead to global peace," she claimed.
Apart from the quartet - Ueda, Philip, Giorgia Renosto (Italy) and Debo Ray (US), Women of the World has Patrick Simard, a Canadian percussionist, as a guest artiste.
The musical exchange here will inspire artistes abroad, said Ueda.
"We interacted a lot with the audience and participants as part of the Berklee-India Exchange. Our objective is to learn from people in Kolkata and share our experiences in other countries," she said.
Talking about the need to build bridges with music, Ueda asserted that someone may not understand every word in a song, but they usually appreciate the spirit.
"My mother is from Hiroshima and I have heard many stories of atomic bombing from her. It always made me wonder if there was a way to make this world a peaceful and beautiful place," she recalled.
Rounding up the meeting, Philip said 'Women of the World' aims to reach out to Indian audiences, bond with them and, if possible, collaborate for future endeavours.
"Usually we bring India to the world at Berklee. This is our chance of bringing the world to India," she added.
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