The new German envoy to India Walter J Lindner is also a celebrated musician who has a few music albums to his credit. He has been successfully juggling between music and diplomacy in his professional journey. 

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Lindner's task at hand

Walter J Lindner's current diplomatic task is to strengthen the Indo-German strategic partnership with the impending visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But he is also thinking of fascinating the Indian audiences and connecting with them through his music. Lindner has been meeting many Indian musicians after his arrival in India as ambassador in mid-2019 and has also attended a concert of Shujaat Khan and a qawwali performance at the dargah. 

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The Musical journey  

Lindner’s fascination towards music and India dates back to 1971 when he listened to the concert that was organized in New York by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison and sitar player Ravi Shankar. He began his musical journey from the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, where he learned to play the piano and the flute and how to conduct an orchestra. 

After his musical studies, he returned to Germany in 1980 to study law, and then switched to diplomatic services in 1988 after practicing law for years.

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Affinity towards India

When Lindner first came to India in 1977, he got fascinated by the spirituality of the country. According to him, India was a bit young and naive as a nation than it is today and was referred to as a place for meditation practices and yoga where one would seek enlightenment. However, his stay in India was only for six months and he always had a longing to come back to know more about the mystics of the nation. 

Now that Lindner is back in India, he wishes to connect with the people as he thinks connecting with common people is just as important as connecting with intellectuals, journalists and corporates. He has enjoyed every moment of his dual-track career over the past four decades. 

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