New Delhi, Sep 24, 2023, IANS
New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Modi during his recent episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ talked about a blind German singer named Cassandra Mae Spittmann.
The 21-year-old singer -- stage name CassMae and Cassidy -- had given two extremely melodic vocal performances of the songs ‘Jagat Jaana Palam’ and ‘Shiva Panchakshara Strotam’ which led to the PM greatly praising her.
The Prime Minister played the renditions of these tracks sung by Cassandra Mae and said: "Such a melodious voice...and every word reflects emotions. We can also feel her attachment to God. You would be surprised to know that this voice is of a daughter from Germany.
“Her name is CassMae. 21-year-old Cassmae on Instagram is quite famous these days. German national Cassmae has never visited India. But, she is extremely fond of Indian music.”
Praising her versatile singing and her excellent pronunciation, PM Modi said: “What a sweet voice.. and within each note and each word, you can feel the emotions. We can feel her love for God.”
Highlighting the challenges CassMae has faced since she was little, he said: “CassMae has been unable to see since her birth. But that hasn’t stopped her from achieving the extraordinary.”
He added: “Her passion for music, and her creativity is very inspiring. She began learning African drumming when she was three years old."
"Her introduction to Indian music was only about 5-6 years ago, but she frequently posts songs in various Indian languages. Be it Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, she has sung in them all.
“Can you imagine just how difficult it would be for a person to just say two-three lines in an unknown language? But for Cassmae, it seems like it’s nothing.”
He further noted that CassMae has never actually been to India, and for someone to be so passionate about the music and culture of a land they have never been to before is a source of awe and inspiration.
PM Modi concluded his words for CassMae by sharing a snippet of her rendition of a song she sang in Kannada.
She has indeed excellent pronunciation of Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam and Kannada, and she frequently posts clips of her own piano based acoustic renditions of various devotional songs in multiple languages.
Her voice has been noted for not just its power and mellifluous nature, but also the remarkable nuances she utters in every note with very high passion delivery, which made her a rising star on social media.
In the 105th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the Prime Minister further highlighted that Indian culture and music have become global, and more and more people are getting fascinated by it, which serves as the rising of India’s soft power in the world.
He further mentioned the success of the space projects undertaken by ISRO, with their lunar rocket Chandrayaan-3 which made India the first country to reach the South Pole of the moon, the sun probe Aditya LV1 as well as highlighting the recent G20 summit which was held in New Delhi.