White House Band Plays Bhajan at Biden’s Diwali Bash, Grammy Winner Reacts

The White House military band played the devotional song ‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’ during Diwali celebrations at US President Joe Biden’s official residence. In the video shared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, four members of the band can be seen playing the song on piano, violin, cello and drums.

“Wonderful to hear the White House Military Band playing Om Jai Jagdeesh Hare for Diwali. Happy Diwali,” Ms. Gopinath wrote.

The video received over 4,000 likes and tons of praises from Indians.

Wonderful to hear the White House Military Band playing Om Jai Jagdeesh Hare for Diwali. Happy Diwali 🪔 pic.twitter.com/lJwOrCOVpo

– Gita Gopinath (@GitaGopinath) October 31, 2024

Indian-American composer and three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej said the song’s rendition was “well done”.

“Great arrangement, and the violinist did all the glissandos pretty well,” he said.

Mr Biden hosted a Diwali celebration at the White House on Monday. The event was reportedly attended by more than 600 Indian-Americans from across the country, including members of Congress, public officials and business leaders. Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, currently stuck on the International Space Station, also joined the event via video message.

However, Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden were unable to attend the celebrations due to the ongoing backlog in the US presidential election campaign.