 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to welcome here. First for a quick conversation, and then into a fireside chat with our chairperson. Please welcome the one and only, Mr. Ravinder Narayan, MD and president of PTC Network. And later he will join in a fireside chat with the one and only, a very dear friend of mine, Mr. Rohail Amin, who is a curator of music in 4.0, senior editor, business, world, and of course, an exchange for media growth. And happy to be welcoming again, Mr. Ravindra Narayan with us this morning. Hello, sir, good morning to you and wishing you a very happy World Music Day. Good morning and a very, very happy World Music Day. I sincerely hope today sees the onset of change for the music industry. It has been in a doldrum. It has been in a depressing mode for long and music, I would say the spirit of music is not that. I hope we conquer this. The world changes. Music is live. And I think live reasserts itself, the artists, the musicians, all of them get back to where they were. Absolutely sir, I love the thought that you've started with. I also just want to add right now, as you mentioned, the music is the healer. The reason why we celebrate 21st June as World International Yoga Day and World Music Day because both the things are healer to human life. They are, they are, they are. And I would say the entire life, people say the creation is born out of sound, born out of music. Music is what keeps the world going, I would say. Wherever you find music, you will find positive things happening, positive thoughts floating around. There will be less of negativity. There will be more of life. Music, that's why I say is life. Absolutely sir. So what do you, sir? And let's hear from you and later we'll have our chairperson, Mr. Rohail Amin, joining you in a fireside chat. Over to you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to exchange from media, business world and music for. I've been very fortunate to have been associated with musicing since its inception. It's a great effort. It's a great effort and in times to come, I would see it expanding across the globe. Musicians, creators from across the globe will be part of this. And this will become the industry forum in times to come. Having said that, as I was saying earlier, the year that went by a year and a half has been the most tumultuous year. I don't think in the history we've seen this sort of a period, but it had both the sides. It had a flip side also. The most common side of this tragedy called COVID has fallen the industry, which is music industry the most, because most of the income that artists hope to generate has been from shows. Don't see any artists who make money by recording albums, by releasing videos. All the money that comes to them, anywhere in the world comes from doing live shows, performing at ceremonies, concerts, happening, events. That's where the bread and butter is. And all that came to a halt. Many musicians went into depression. A lot of people changed their track. Music for them now becomes a hobby and they're doing something else to survive. That's been a very, very unfortunate time. On the flip side, there were those musicians whom nobody knew and suddenly they started getting discovered because they were suddenly able to make music on their own and put it on the digital platforms, the YouTubes, the streaming services and all that. And suddenly there was a captive audience. Since you were not going out anywhere, you were not doing anything. There was a captive audience for talented musicians, talented singers, talented music makers. And they suddenly found connections across the globe. And the latest boon to happen to the music industry has been this clubhouse of very, very weird but I would say unforeseen sort of a phenomenon that has come into being. And I'll narrate you a very short incident that during the last one week that I've been there, I've discovered 10 musicians who are very good singers, who are very good, but they had no money to record their songs, to record their videos. So as a network, as PTC network, we made a policy that we will invite every singer, every musician who thinks he or she has little bit of talent. We will record them, we will make their music videos, we will release TV channels on our audio label, on our streaming platforms, on our app. That's the least we can do in this time. All of these platforms like us, the TV channels, the streaming services, we have made enough money from singers and talent for more the music labels. This is the time that we should invest back, pay back and create music by not letting it cause the creators, the creators to get the services. So this is the policy that we actually started recording poor, those who could not afford about two years ago and we recorded almost 500 original Javi songs of all parts, Javi guzzles, Cavallis, pop songs, folk, forgotten songs, all sort of song and all sort of genre. But now we've decided that we are not going to take any penny. We are going to record them, we are going to release them and we are going to give the platform. And that's the least as a platform we can do for the creators who find it very difficult in these times to create music videos, create music, to find musicians, put them together in a studio, everything has been in the lockdown as things open up. And I'm sure things are going to open up for good. The first such step we are doing today, tonight we are on the World Music Day. We are doing a Sufi concert where we've invited musicians like Laquindar Badali, Ashmat Sultana, along with absolute newcomers who are going to be performing in a concert which is going to be televised worldwide today. So I hope the World Music Day changes the tunes, changes the scenario, changes the world for the music creators, music. And as the industry as a whole, we all come together, pool our resources and create some good music for everyone to enjoy. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Mr. Narayan for joining us. I mean, always there to support this initiative for a quick question that I have, what I call the Fireside Chart as well. Since you have been there supporting the industry for a very long time, I want to first understand in the last two years, the kind of adrenaline rush that was there in the industry, has it got impacted in some way? I mean, how has the Punjabi music industry dealt with this COVID, the blow that COVID has dealt with? Is that? It has been a very severe blow as I said for musicians who were earning only from doing shows. And as everybody knows, Punjabi music industry has been the most thriving music industry across the globe. Almost every singer who's good would have shows in the weekends, either they'll be performing at a club, at a wedding, at a birthday party, or at a concert, somewhere or the other in the world. They'll be in Canada, they'll be in UK, Australia, Middle East, in Punjab, in Nakodar, Batala, Batinda, Delhi, somewhere or the other, they'll be performing and making money. And that's why this industry has been thriving. It thrives on live performances, concerts, artists who are cutting albums, who are doing shows, who are doing music, who are doing singles. And they've actually revolutionized the Indian industry, I would say, it'd not be wrong to say that the Punjabi singers have actually revolutionized the non-Hindi film music in India. So the blow has been there, but they've coped up with it. They've created songs. Some of them went to Canada and other places where there was music happening. They recorded their albums, their songs there. Some of them did it here in their own way. Some converted, adopted new technologies and created music at sitting at their home and got limited amount of success. But until the shows return, the concerts return, it's a tough road ahead. Right. You know, PTC as a network has always provided a platform which artists needed in that, you know, the regional artists needed to cross over and have crossed over to global positions as well. Tell me, when you look back at the journey of PTC, when it comes to music, supporting music, what are the three highs that you can talk of? See, the greatest high we saw when we did our first ever music award and everybody thought music award for Punjabi industry, isn't that? And then they did it. The entire industry came there. There was one sentiment and that sentiment has continued even today. This is our show. This is our recognition. The entire music industry was there as a family. In my career, that was the highest point that we could have the entire industry participating, sitting together, celebrating, clapping for each other and egging on each performer on stage, on ground. And that's been a very, very high point. And when small, small singers who would come to us to give us a break, and then they become superstars, that's the kick that you get when you say that, yes, we supported the singer, today is a superstar. That's the feeling that actually gives you satisfaction that we did something right. So during our journey... Well, last question in the interest of time. Yeah. My final question is about, you know, we have seen now Punjab music flout in Bollywood, even abroad. From here, what next? Where do you see Punjabi music say in the next two years? The quickest bounce back after this pandemic phenomena will be the Punjabi industry. They're already working. They're already working in UK. They're already working in Canada. They're already working in India. There are fabulous numbers in store. We are recording, in the next one month, we're recording 50 new songs with artists shooting their videos, launching them one by one. If we are doing 50, imagine how much work is going to be happening currently in Punjabi industry. The industry looks good. I think the tragedy that has been following us will soon be behind us. We will back be thriving, we'll be back creating music, doing shows. It will start in a small, small, small way, but six months down the line, I see things coming back to normal. It may take about two years to fully get into the group of where we were, but we are on our way back. And I'm saying it with full authority, with great conviction that Punjabi music industry on its way back, and it is going to be back ways. Absolutely, I think totally agree with you. And today, later in the day, we have more sessions lined up on the rise of Punjabi music industry and many other exciting sessions. It's a day of power packed with conversations. Thank you so much for joining us on this keynote and the five-side chat. And over to you, Mithin. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Rohail. Rabindra sir, I want to ask you a quick question. I did ask Mr. Ravlis as well, that music is inside of us. But if you want to describe music in one line or in one word, so how would you describe music in your own code, sir? Music is life. There is no sound without music. If there is no sound, there is no harmony. The elements are not in harmony. The cosmic dance, we call it the great creation, is a cosmic dance. It's happening to the beat of the cosmic divine being. So without the music, I would say there is no life. Absolutely, I totally agree with you that music is life. Music is life. And sir, somewhere we are talking about a picture. You mute it, remove the sound. Remove the music from a documentary or a film. How long can you see it? True, I agree. But sir, you said that 15 new videos are being recorded. Sir, I don't even have a single phone that you can act in the video. This is wrong. It's an open invitation. Throughout the day, I'm going to be repeating it. If you think you can sing your good, you're going to record you. You're going to make your video. I don't care what others are saying about you. You believe in yourself, please come to us. We will record you, we will release you. After that, it's your talent. If you're talented, people like it, you will go places. At least we can give a break. We can give a platform. We can showcase. After that, it's your talent. And I'm calling you guys, don't worry about that, sir. Thank you for joining us here. Indeed, it was very great to hear from you. I love the thought about music and what's going to come your way. And thank you for answering all the questions that my session chair Mr. Rohil asked you. I wish you great luck, great day, happy World Music Day, and happy International Yoga Day as well. You too, thank you so much.