130 Song Celebration

July 18th, 2010, Jamaica Queens. In honour of Sri Chinmoy's completion of 13,000 Bengali songs on July 13th, 2006, numerous students participated in a singing session performing 1% of his total Bengali compositions, or 130 songs in little over two hours.

The performance took place in the outdoor ampitheatre and garden, Aspiration-Ground, whose entrance is flanked by two magnificent stone lions.  The soulful singing and meditative atmosphere was profoundly aspiring, inspiring and restoring, a welcome boost to hectic New York City lifestyles.  The performance was led by a young female choir singing a cappella, their pure voices soaring upwards into the overhanging greenery.

The selected songs were among Sri Chinmoy's stirring classics composed over a forty-year period.

The rousing finale was the 13,000th Bengali song Shakpura Shakpura Purba Shakpura Gram that Sri Chinmoy composed on July 13th while in Kamakura, Japan in 2006. During his lifetime, Sri Chinmoy composed over 13,600 Bengali and 7,400 English songs for an overall total of 21,000 songs.

 Shakpura Shakpura purba Shakpura gram
Amar janma dham dham dham
Chatrala Chatrala Chatrala Chatragram
Preranar eshanar nayanabhiram
Amar mata Bangadesh Bangadesh Bangadesh
Sneher banyar nai je shesh nai je shesh shesh
Bharat matar paye thami
Sethai mama antarajyami

–Sri Chinmoy