With good fortune we were able to attend the 37th Annual Dhrupad Mela in Varanasi, India. An exceptional line up appeared for four nights, blissfully resounding the banks of the river Ganges with the mystical sound of Dhrupad. From 8pm till dawn the music was mellifluous and profound with many artists achieving the highest pinnacles of perfection in sound and music, allowing us to enter into transcendental states.

There is really nothing quite like the magical ambiance of sitting beside the sacred river Ganga all night long, diving deep into the subtle currents of sound that only Dhrupad reveal.  Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world and in itself it is a mystical, holy city full of the echoes of devotional prayers of devotees and holy men from across India and the world.

This is the dwelling place of Shiva, who is known also by his ancient name, “Rudra“. In Banaras there is a popular saying, “Kashi ke kankar Shiva Shankar hain”, -”The very stones of Kashi are Shiva.” Shiva dwells not only in the city’s great temples, but in the very ground and substance of the place itself.

Wonderful Musicians from all over India performed at the program.  So many musicians give their time for the love of Dhrupad at this free festival.  Notable artists were Prem Kumar Mallick, Saeed Uddin Dagar, Wasifuddin Dagar, The Mallick Brothers, Uday Bhawalkar and many more that you can see listed below on the line-up.  This year the festival moved from being a 3 to a 4 night festival.  On Shivratri night, the spiritual energy is palpable and each performance is charged with transcendental renderings of classical Raga and devotional Shiva songs.

(Many thanks to Disco Dom for some of the images which were taken from footage he shot.  We hope to share some clips on youtube once we return to UK.)

Artists at Dhrupad Mela, Varanasi, India.  2012

Vocalists except where indicated otherwise.

17th February 2012

• Wasifuddin Dagar
• Udav Sinde (pakhawaj)
• Ritwik Sanyal
• Ravindra Goswami (surbahar)
• Ms Ira Mukherjee
• Nishant Singh (pakhawaj)
• Brijbushan Goswami
• Sauravbrat Chakarborty (surbahar)
• Saket Maharaj (pakhawaj)

18th February 2012

• Ravi Shankar Udhapadhya (pakhawaj)
• Abhay Narayan Mallik
• Ms Kavery Kar
• Vinod Kumar Divedi
• Shukdev Chaturvedi
• Dalchand Sharma (pakhawaj)
• Ram Kumar and Shamti Kumar Mallik
• Suvir Mishra (rudra veena)
• Prashant and Nishant Mallik
• Indra Kishore Mishra
• Sudip Pal (pakhawaj)

19th February 2012

• Gwalior students ensemble
• Asit Kumar Banerjee (rudra veena)
• Falguni Mitra
• Aneesuddin and Nafeesuddin Dagar
• Ramji Lal Sharma (pakhawaj)
• Rajesh Sendh
• Ashik Shankar Mhatre (pakhawaj)
• Kailash Pavar
• Bhushan Ji (surbahar)
• Ms Sanchita Chaudhury
• Pushparaj Kosthi (surbahar)
• Jay Prakesh Pandey (pakhawaj)

20th February 2012

• Ritwik Sanyal students
• Vishal Jain
• Prem Kumar Mallick,
• Ramakant Pathak and students (pakhawaj)
• Saeed Uddin Dagar
• Deobrata Mishra (surbahar)
• Shivdas Chakravorty (sarod)
• Ms Madhu Bhatt Tailang
• Uday Bhawalkar
• Arun Bhattacharya
• Bhaktiraj & Ruturaj Bhosle (pakhawaj)
• Savan Mukhopadyay

Thanks to Ragamala @ http://forums.chandrakantha.com for the listing.

Dover Lane Music Conference is the longest running annual Indian Classical Music festival in Kolkata and possibly whole of India.  This year the festival is dedicated to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th Birth Anniversary.  The line-up for the 60th Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata has been announced and it is, as always, something special.  It promises another 5 nights offering some of the Best of Indian Classical Vocal, Tabla, Pakhawaj, Sitar, Shenai, Violin, Rudra Veena, Bansuri, Sarod and Harmonium performances from an all-star host of performers.

Each program begins at 8pm and continues through the night.  Its a wonderful experience, to sit with thousands of others, opening ones heart to the subtle and stirring magic of India Classical Music.  As the evening gives way to night and night gives way to early morning, the Ragas mellifluously flow from one into another, often in accordance with the sections of the day.  The festival Read more

The All-India Sufi & Mystic Music Festival takes place in multiple cities across India each year.  November & December 2011 will see 3 weekends of performances at Purana Qila, Delhi, the Horniman Circle Gardens , Mumbai  and Tollygunge Club, Kolkata featuring a broad spectrum of International musicians.

Official Website

www.ruhaniyat.com

We’ll be posting a review of the Mumbai shows later this month, but here is something to whet your mystic appetite in the form of the complete list of performances featured :-

NEW DELHI

19th November 2011, Purana Quila, Delhi
Zikr-e-Rifayi – Fakirs (Andhra Pradesh)
Jikir-Jari – Hafiza Begum Choudhury & Group (Assam)
Baul Songs – Parvathy Baul (West Bengal)
Sema – Whirling Dervishes (Turkey)
Kabirbani – Mukhtiyar Ali & Group (Rajasthan)
Sufi Qawwali – Fareed Ayaz & Group (Pakistan)

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Kabir (also Kabira)  (1440—1518)was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic Al-Kabir which means ‘The Great’ – the 37th Name of God in the Qur’an.

Exciting news from Mumbai with the unfolding of the KABIR FESTIVAL, a 10 day extravaganza of Mystic Music, Poetry, Film and Arts running from January 14th to January 23rd.  The Kabir festival follows on from The Kabir Project (www.kabirproject.org) which wa founded by Shabnam Virmani, a documentary film maker who spent 6 years travelling with folk singers who sing the mystic songs of Kabir.  This festival is something of a showcase of  those travels and the films, music and booksthat were produced as a result.

The Kabir project is a 6-year initiative undertaken by filmmaker Shabnam Virmani as an artist-in-residency project at Srishti. It brings together the experiences of a series of journeys exploring how this 15th century mystic weaver poet lives in diverse social, political, religious and spiritual spaces in India (and Pakistan). The core inspiration of the project is music, and Kabir comes alive in documentary films, 2 folk music videos and 10 music CDs and poetry books through the power of song.

The films (Had-Anhad: Journeys with Ram & Kabir, Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar & Kabir, Chalo Hamara Des:  Journeys with Kabir & Friends are interwoven in significant ways, but each can be viewed independently

The extraordinary line up of traditional talent will display the enormous variety of this spiritual, mystic lineage in all its gracious beauty.  All programs are free to attend on a first-come first-served basis.  It is a delight to know such events are taking place to introduce the Youth of India to their cultural and spiritual heritage in such a way and we wish the organisers well on their quest to uphold and maintain the connections to this tradition.  This is the first Kabir festival in Mumbai and we look forward to its establishment as an annual celebration of one of the Greatest Mystic Poets India has ever known.

Please visit the excellent websites for more info about this enchanting festival:-

Official Site

www.thekabirfest.com

Blog

www.kabirfestivalmumbai.wordpress.com

Kabir Project

www.kabirproject.org

Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale.

Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale.
From what land do you come, O Swan? to what shore will you fly?
Where would you take your rest, O Swan, and what do you seek?

Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule: where the terror of Death is no more.
There the woods of spring are a-bloom, and the fragrant scent ‘He is I’ is borne on the wind:
There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed, and desires no other joy.

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