On 21 February 2018, the Peace Meditation Choir was invited by H.E. Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, to perform at an International Mother Language Day celebration at UN Headquarters in New York. Held in Conference Room 4, the programme was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Bangladesh, Colombia, Fiji and Kenya, in collaboration with the UN Secretariat and UNESCO Office in New York, as well as the Office of the Mayor of New York City.
The Singers opened the Cultural Segment of the programme with the theme song for the 21st of February, Amar Bhaiyer, joined by a very special member of the group, Saleha Islam, the wife of Khourshedul Islam, a freedom fighter in the Bangladesh Liberation Movement. The Singers also performed a song by Sri Chinmoy dedicated to human rights, in honour of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights.
At the end of the Cultural Segment, the Singers read a special poem by Sri Chinmoy in the original English, as well as several translations representative of the Mother Languages of some of the singers. The poem had been featured when diplomats joined in setting a Guinness World Record for the poem read in the most languages in a 24-hour period, in April 2014. The Choir closed with an arrangement of a song by Sri Chinmoy written in his native Bengali.
As President of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, a Non-Governmental Organization formally associated with the UN Department of Global Communications, Ranjana Ghose recites the words to a special song by Sri Chinmoy dedicated to human rights.
Paree Atkin conducts the Singers in an arrangement of Chalre Rabi.
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- On 21 February 2018, the Peace Meditation Choir opens the Cultural Segment of the UN International Mother Language Day celebration at UN Headquarters, performing Sri Chinmoy’s songs in English and Bengali, and reading translations of his poetry representative of the Mother Languages of some of the singers. Held in Conference Room 4, the programme was cosponsored by the Permanent Missions of Bangladesh, Colombia, Fiji and Kenya, in collaboration with the UN Secretariat and UNESCO, as well as the Office of the Mayor of New York City.
