A 20-member Catholic youth band is using music and dance to spread a message of peace in strife-torn northeastern India.

Members of Rexband 4 Peace have taken a month off work to tour the region and are pulling in big crowds.

Some 20,000 flocked to a show in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya state, on Nov. 1. The day before, 3,000 people were at a performance in Guwahati, the commercial capital of neighboring Assam state, where their message was timely.

Guwahati archdiocese had just concluded a program of special prayers to mark the first anniversary of serial bomb blasts that claimed 90 lives and injured 500 in Guwahati and three other towns of Assam state on Oct. 30 last year.

The northeast region is home to more than 200 ethnic groups who are often in conflict. Investigators believe the attacks last year were the work of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland, a predominantly Christian separatist movement seeking a sovereign land for the ethnic Bodo people of Assam.

During their Oct. 30 performance, Rexband 4 Peace communicated the need for forgiveness and respect for life in a 150-minute show. This comprised ethnic Indian music, hymns, slow rock, hip hop and various combinations of contemporary popular music, as well as dance, skits and faith sharing.

Many in the audience were spellbound.

Willie Mathews, a Catholic and manager of the “Assam Tribune” newspaper, said the band “rocked us to the full” and “very powerfully.” The performance was “very convincing” and the message penetrated “our minds and hearts.”

“Some times we feel shy to proclaim Jesus, but here they were proclaiming him in public,” he told UCA News.

Pauline Sister Carolyn Duia, a local musician, found the program “an authentic prayer, worship and praise in the language of young people.” She added that the band’s message has great significance for troubled northeastern India.

Naomi Ngade, 25, felt the concert “was a moving and prayerful experience.” She added, “I found the sharing of their personal experiences genuine and very enriching.”

For Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, the band’s “excellent” performance helped the audience to appreciate the value of peace, love and reconciliation.

The Salesian prelate said band members were committed Catholic youngsters who use art as a medium to convey their message. “We have to be open to receive the message they communicate.”

Rexband 4 Peace comprises three women and 17 men from the south of the country. They came together in the early 1990s after experiencing Christ through the Jesus Youth charismatic movement which started in Kerala state.

The band began its current tour with a performance in Kolkata on Oct. 25. It will be moving on to Nagaland and Manipur states next.

Source:  UCAN

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