A highly accomplished musician and music teacher, Sahana has performed in over 70 countries specialising in playing the music of the great Bengali songwriter, poet, artist and peace visionary Sri Chinmoy. (These concerts are offered free of charge). She has twice been nominated for the highly prestigious Women of the Year Awards, which see women honoured for their outstanding contributions to society in the arts, science, politics, business, and humanitarian arenas.

In 2011, Sahana received the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative Award, given to only five community leaders each year of whom are significantly helping to improve their local communities. “Our Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative recognises individuals and organisations that make a positive impact in their local communities,” said Jonathan Moulds, president, Europe at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. With this award and a group of supporters, Sahana turned an abandoned building into a boldly coloured, soundproofed music school, complete with performance space and lesson rooms, and opened the doors to the World Heart Beat Music Academy in May 2012.

The World Heart Beat Music Academy grew out of The 51st State Band and its projects. The 51st State Band was founded by Sahana Gero from the humble beginnings of a doughnut party held in a small living room one afternoon in 2000. Since then, the band has grown to be perhaps the largest community concert band in London. The 51st State band has successfully been running programmes for ‘disadvantaged’ children and young people in Wandsworth, London, taking its inspiration many years ago from the ‘El Sistema’ projects in Venezuela, which has made musicians out of half a million young Venezuelans and has transformed the lives of many underprivileged and at-risk youths in the process. 

Sahana has taken music all over the world, performing herself in concerts in over 50 countries. Specialising in playing the Bengali music of Sri Chinmoy, she has performed in Eastern and Western Europe, Russia and the Ukraine, North, South and Central America, China, Japan and Bangladesh. She has also taken the opportunity to visit schools and teach in many of these countries, striving to make music accessible and inspirational to the lives of children everywhere. Very recently, she has been working on a musical project with the children from the slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sahana has also been working in music education for over 30 years and has taught more than 1000 children musical instruments and has been an examiner for Trinity Guildhall and held the post of Head of Woodwind for the Wandsworth Music Service.

In 2014, Sahana was a finalist in Wandsworth’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and received a prestigious Action for Children’s Arts Members’ Award in November 2015. In 2016, World Heart Beat Music Academy was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music.

Awards 

The annual RPS Music Awards (Oscars in Classical music), presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK. The awards honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations.

2017 saw the academy win the Members of Parliament ‘Inspire the House’ award at the Kids Count Awards and also Sahana was recognised in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and presented with her MBE for Services to Music and the Community in South London by King Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Continuing her vision to create more opportunities for young people and to develop a ‘United Nations’ of Music, 2018 saw the start of a new music venue and education centre in the regeneration area of Nine Elms. World Heart Beat was selected by London Borough of Wandsworth and developers Eco-World Ballymore as a ‘Cultural Anchor’ from a competitive field of 42 cultural organisations and awarded a 750 m2 space at Embassy Gardens in the heart of Nine Elms (part of the largest regeneration area in Europe) a 50-year lease with no break-clause) at £1p.a. estimated to be worth in excess of £10m.

During the covid pandemic Sahana and her team were able to support all its students as well as keeping all 42 musicians /teaching /staff in work throughout these really hard times.

• 2019-2021 Saw the development of online classes/lockdown videos and live-streamed concerts -eg Another Star 
• 2022 – World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens opened
• 2023 – The first season of concert programme has started
• March 2024 Sahana Gero won Wandsworth woman entrepreneur of the year award
• September 2024 Shortlisted for Impact award RPS

A unique community concept

The World Heart Beat Music Academy promotes a rich diversity of culturally linked musical genres and instruments so that young people from all backgrounds feel included. It is home to more than 350 students who receive music tuition in both traditional and non-traditional instruments and participate in public concerts. World Heart Beat Music Academy helps talented young musicians reach their potential and enrich their lives. Whatever their background, young people are taught and inspired by the best musicians, with no financial constraints. For all of them, this would otherwise be an impossible dream. As one student puts it: “At World Heart Beat we have music – we have somewhere to go. People without it have nothing to do and nowhere to go, so they just spend their time on the streets.”

When it comes to learning music, Sahana works tirelessly to make every effort to remove any obstacles. Sahana seeks for all of her students to experience the freedom and belief that anything is possible for them to achieve and that every individual has the capacity to succeed and be happy. 

I founded World Heart Beat Music Academy in 2009 to address the lack of affordable, high-quality music education for children and young people, regardless of background, skill, or means. Since then, we’ve become a musical family for over 425 young people each year, offering free and subsidised instrumental lessons, ensemble playing, and recording and performance opportunities.

We work in south west London, in areas ranked among the lowest 10–30% in the UK for multiple and child deprivations. Our two sites, World Heart Beat Kimber Road and our new concert venue and recording studio at Embassy Gardens, offer a beautiful, inspiring environment for musical learning and development. Many of our young people come from disadvantaged backgrounds, yet they are flourishing through the transformative power of music.

World Heart Beat is a place of joy and ambition and most importantly, it is a beacon of hope and aspiration in music for the next generation.