A festival of music
Jashn E Deccan, festive indeed
Mumi
asked if this December too the music festival we had been to, during the previous
year, at the outskirts of town was being organized. Some days later we came
across the flier for the 2nd edition of the Jashn
E Deccan
and, as they say, blocked the dates.
During
the previous edition Pandit Biswajit Roy Choudhury, one of the artists, had
beautifully described event as, ‘Everything
here is so beautifully unconventional’. Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan’s
performance at the event unfortunately turned out to be his final performance;
that evening at the age of 108 he had stunned all present and for me redefined
few terms.
This
year’s edition, held at the same venue, Sreenidhi
International School,
had performances by 6 artists spread across 2 evenings. Pandit Uday Bhawalkar
began the proceedings with Raag Yaman and moved on to Raag Shivranjani. Seeing
him perform I recalled Piyush Mishra state that an artist had to enjoy his
performance for the audience to enjoy. He was followed by Pandit Budhaditya
Mukherjee who began with the Raag Shuddha Kalyan. The smile on his face as he
played the sitar and the manner in which his ‘partnership’ with the accompanying
artists shaped as they changed gears and paved way for others stayed with me
for long. The final performance was by Vidushi Jayashree Patnekar.
The
amphitheatre appeared as beautiful as the ‘chaand’
with the flowering Palash, at the edge, being the proverbial ‘daag’. The
arrangements were indeed unconventional; simplicity with a touch of finesse! On
the one hand I wondered why majority chairs were empty and on the other when I
looked at those around realized that those who had come were connoisseurs of
Indian Classical Music, which the event celebrates, and were soaking in the
performances. Attention, to quote Simone Wiel, is ‘the rarest and purest form of generosity’
Hyderabad
in recent months has provided opportunities to soak in our culture by way of
these festivals. Jashn E
Khusrau
was organized during November; at multiple venues across the city including at Chowmahalla. This year’s highlight was the participation
of Tanoura dancers from Egypt. Overlapping with the Jashn E Deccan was the Ruhaniyat at Taramati
Baradari. The city has also seen rise in popularity of venues that house cultural
events, albeit at a separate scale; of these Lamakaan remains a
personal favourite.
The
2nd day began with Raag Multani by Shri Bhuvnesh Komkali and given
that he is Pandit Kumar Gandharva’s grandson not surprisingly ended with a Nirgun
Bhajan. Pandit Venkatesh Kumar who followed got requests to sing more from a
swaying audience when when he indicated closure of his session. He also sang ‘Holi khelat mo se nahi re’ and left me
wondering on the impact Holi has on our culture; holi songs are also sung at
the Nizamudding Dargah! Dr N Rajam ended with a bhajan on violin. As the words
played in mind I recalled Ashok Bajpayee say that our ancient texts are much
more than mythology or history, they are also the songs we sing today.
Each
of these performances went on for about an hour and this appeared to make sense.
They were also of a quality which ensured silence and were so much more alive
than the dead and sterile presentations many of us are subjected to. To top it the
speakers there need to be stopped – here they sought permission to begin! Good
also to see audience come with their children, enable them to have an exposure
that could kindle an interest in what they heard.
At
a personal level the time flew. On occasions I felt akin to how I feel during
meditation sessions and on others my mind wandered to what I love doing; out on
the bike in Central India, caressing the openness in this case.
On
our way back, after the second day, I asked mumi if she was keen to come next
year as well. The performances were brilliant, arrangements smooth, coffee is
good and they arrange for the school buses to pick and drop, so is there a
reason to not attend, she got back.
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