Bhakti Sangeet Festival to begin on Friday

Bringing back the spirit of devotional music to the capital, the annual Bhakti Sangeet Festival is set to begin from Friday. The three- day festival will bring together eleven singers from different genres of devotional music including Chhannulal Mishra, Anuradha Paudwal, Bhuvanesh Komkali, Harshdeep Kaur and the Warsi brothers.

Presented by Sahitya Kala Parishad and Department of Art, Culture and Languages, Delhi government, the festival will treat audiences with bhajans of rustic saints like Kabir, Meera and Soordas to sufiana kalams from Punjab and devotional music in its purest form.

"Be it in any form, devotional music never fails to strike a chord with people who have the quest to connect to the ultimate reality. In a way, devotional music speaks through a universal language. This is why we are easily moved by all forms of it, no matter which language we speak or which culture we adhere to," veteran Hindustani classical singer Chhannulal Mishra said.

The festival will begin with Paudwal's performance, to be followed by Kabir bhajans by Bhuvanesh Komkali and an evening of qawwali rendition by the popular Warsi brothers - Naseer and Nazeer Ahmad.

The second evening will see the soulful renditions of Radha bhajans by Kumud Diwan and Shubha Joshi performing devotional singing from the Abhang and other folk traditions.

Apart from that, Nitin Sharma will render bhajans of saints Meera and Soordas. The evening will end with popular singer Harshdeep Kaur's Punjabi Sufi songs.

"The sheer variety of devotional music tradition in India is breathtaking. This festival is a unique platform to bring together people from different genres of music and unite them by their love for the devotional music," Paudwal said.

The third day of the festival will see Uday Bhawalkar performing one of the most ancient styles of Hindustani classic music and Shobha Raju's rendition of Ram bhakti bhajans. The audience will also be treated to Chhannulal Mishra's recitation from the Ram Charit Manas.

The Bhakti Sangeet Festival will be at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, from April 29.

--IANS

pn/vm