Mehta prevented Indo-Israeli embarrassment

Mehta prevented Indo-Israeli embarrassment

NEW DELHI (AFP): Conductor Zubin Mehta recounts in an
interview to be aired here today how he stepped in to prevent a
musical embarrassment when India and Israel recently established
diplomatic relations.

"I saw the Indian flag go up in Jerusalem two years ago when
the Indian ambassador presented his credentials," the Indian-born
Mehta told the local television current affairs program
Eyewitness.

"I was at the presidential palace a few minutes before (the
ceremony) and I heard the Jerusalem police band rehearsing "Jana
Gana Mana," India's national anthem, he said.

"And I heard them playing it twice as fast. So I ran to the
conductor and said: 'I don't mean to interfere with your
interpretation but you're playing this too fast and this
relationship between Israel and India has taken so long to come
together that I don't want it to be ruined at the first moment.'

"So by the time the ambassador came they were playing it at a
decent pace," Mehta said.

Mehta is scheduled to conduct the Israeli Philharmonic in
concerts here and in Bombay, his birthplace, later this year.