New Delhi   

Bettering ties through music

Aimed at inculcating the spirit of harmony and promoting people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan, a three-day musical extravaganza of a diverse range of music begins at the sprawling Nehru Park in the Capital this coming Friday.

To be inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, “Bhakti Utsav-2008” recognises the fact that musicians see borders as artificial demarcation lines.

Organised by Seher and the Delhi Government in association with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the festival will bring together not only top-notch vocalists from India and Pakistan on a common platform but also musicians of various hues who will present different forms of “bhakti” songs.

From Sanskrit chants to “bhajans” in folk and popular traditions, from Sufiana “qawwali” to “bauls” and “dhrupad”, the grand spectacle is aimed at presenting the richness and intensity of music prevalent in many parts of the country through different voices and intonations, from individual prayer to community chants, cutting across all religious denominations.

Singers from the remote deserts of Thar and Cholistan will entertain music-lovers with mesmerising melodies of little-heard songs of the desert. While the participating artistes from the country include Hariharan (Mumbai), Hans Raj Hans (Jalandhar), Siddhi Shankar Mishra and Vipin Kumar Mishra (Bihar) and Pushkar Lele (Pune), musicians from the neighbouring country include Javed Bashir, Shafi Mohammad Faqir and Akhtar Sharif Hussain.

Seher Festival Director Sanjeev Bhargava says it is truly a satisfying feeling to see thousands of people bound together through strings of “bhakti” cutting across faith, religion and class differences. “This festival promotes harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence among citizens,” he adds.

Staff Reporter

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

National Mental Health Programme poised for massive expansion
Student to pay costs for getting admission on rejected ST certificate
Court directs CBI to frame charges against ex-DDA chief
New vistas opening up in aviation
Bettering ties through music
Jaipur from the inside and outside
Sibal unveils five new technology products
Fake currency seized; one arrested
Plea to quash Domestic Violence Act dismissed
MCD told to inspect DLF sites
Sheila hopeful of speedy regularisation
New purchase policy, flyover get the nod
‘Mayawati losing Dalit voters’
Jal Board drive yields good results
Resentment over pay panel proposal
IIPM claims good placements
DVC brings some light to Capital
Phoolan murder accused seeks safety
BJP targets Delhi Government over faulty power meters
Child escapes from police custody
Kidnapped boy’s body found in drain
Six labourers sustain serious burns
BJP launches celebration of First War of Independence
Gun looted from security guard found
Minor among four arrested
No breakthrough in Kalkaji murder case
Two killed in accidents
Court notices to Rockland and DDA
SRCC campus set to become earthquake-resistant
In the Capital Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu