Elton’s songs greet US prez, but lost on crowd

AHMEDABAD: There were looks of consternation and puzzlement among the tens of thousands of people gathered at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad on Monday when the sound system suddenly switched from pulsating Gujarati folk music to the softer 1970s rock of Elton John.

As the people gathered at the stadium in the morning, several hours before the arrival of US President Donald Trump in Ahmedabad, the stadium reverberated to the tunes of local singers such as Kirtidan Gadhvi, Parthiv Gohil, Sairam Dave and Kinjal Dave, complete with vocals laden with echo set against pulsating backbeats. There was even a cover of AR Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam, and the tunes had many in the stadium swaying. But as time for Trump’s entry neared, the sound system suddenly switched over to John’s classic 1971 album Madman Across The Water, belting out standout tracks such as Tiny Dancer, Rotten Peaches and Indian Sunset.

The enthusiasm of the crowd, mostly unfamiliar with John’s status as a classic rock artist, visibly waned and there was near complete silence as the music wafted across the stands packed with close to 100,000 people. Given the spotty data connectivity, desperate Google searches by journalists led nowhere, but the lucky few logged on to the internet and found out about what one article described as Trump’s “unhealthy obsession” with Elton John.

Trump’s favourite musician, according to a 2019 report in The New York Times, turned down an invitation to play at Trump’s inauguration, saying that “as a British National I don’t feel that it’s appropriate for me to play at the inauguration of an American President”.