Committed to composing music for all humanity

Olympic Music Marathon is a non-profit, non-commercial project initiated by Bangalorean Lucius Alberts. At the core of this project is the Olympic song "Celebrate Humanity" composed by Lucius Alberts.
The Olympic song highlights the original ideals and spirit of the ancient Olympic Games. At present, the lyrics are in English and Greek. This Olympic music Marathon is not just for the coming London Olympics. The concept is to keep the Olympic Music Marathon alive for all the coming Olympics," says Lucius Alberts, who is the brother of Janet Yegneswaran of treesforfree.org.
"As my friend and my Art-Guru, the late R M Hadapad  (one of the finest and most creative artistes I have come across in my life - virtual and physical - so far) once told me: All Art-Creations by artistes, once they are created, belong to humanity, all of humanity and not just the artist," says Lucius Alberts.
"The Olympic Hymn that I have created (the song and the lyrics) belongs to all musicians (who can make their own versions in genres that they choose) and to all listeners through The Olympic Music Marathon. A never-ending Music Marathon that will carry the musical torch around the universe," he says.
"The project concept comes from the exposure I had to all the colours of music. I was blessed with loving parents who gave us all, amongst so many precious things: Music.  There is of course the inspiration that comes from parents and places like Coorg and Bangalore."
"The interaction I had with so many creative people at home in Bangalore exposed me to all genres of music: Bhajans, Hymnal, Indian and Western classics, Folk and Beatles. What a gift and what an opportunity."
"It was the Indo-German thing that I grew up with that made me go to Germany (If you know about the great Kannada-English-Dictionary by the German, Reverend Kittel, published more than a hundred years ago, you'd know what I mean).  The first thing  (almost) that I did after going to Germany was to take my guitar and appear at the Thomas Gottschalk Jury Show (those days there were no "U got Talent" kind of shows) and win an award," he says.
"While interacting with musicians and music lovers in Germany, I could develop the project Olympic Music Marathon further and involve musicians and participants from nine nations so far," he says.
"Elena (Greece) sang on the first Hymn+Choir Version and Katharina (also from Greece) translated my lyrics into Greek.  Can, Canan ( in the Turkish language "Can" means: "Heart," like in Hindi "Mere jan" ) and Damla from Turkey volunteered as the first batch of Olympic Music Messengers and were part of the "Bass n Drumz" version of the London Olympic Song "Power of The Word".  Seneit (Eritrea), Chris (Bulgaria) who played the electric bass on some versions) and Birkan (Turkey) joined the Music Marathon later. At this time we were all doing just rough "Kitchen-Recordings".
Roy Louis and his brother Elmar from Cua Cao / Holland (Alumni of the Berklee School of Music, USA) along with Morales from Venezuela made the first Studio Version with a great creative arrangement: "Bossa Nova Groove" of the Olympic Hymn Celebrate Humanity.  Tamara (Ukraine) and Dennis (USA) supported these versions with their great vocals.
"With my sister Janet and another person Prem we are working on the Ooty-Tribal-Version of the Olympic Hymn. That's a cool idea indeed. I can imagine the Kothas (wearing their traditional dress) dancing around the campfire and rendering this Universal Hymn with the Tribal-Beatz," he says.
Raaj (one of the finest guitarists in Bangalore) is working on the Rock-Version. Viktor (another top musicians from Bangalore) has promised a "Victorious-Version". So has Vinayak, who has joined the Music Marathon with his Folk-Version which he will create.
Apart from Mannheim Germany, the project has bases in the UK (London where the Olympic Games 2012 will be held) and India (Bangalore). In the UK, the project (videos and images) have also been published on official websites of the Olympic Organization.  The song and the lyrics have been used so far, by schools and colleges for teaching and as inspirational lyrics.
–AKSHAYA DEVA