Every once in a while there are nightsthat make you fall in love with this city. At Jahan-e-Khusrau, Delhi’s annualSufi music festival, such nights seem to come one after the other. In its sixthyear, the festival this year did yet again all that it does so well—Humayun’sTomb shone breathtakingly, the voices of an eclectic and energising selection ofartists rang through the clear night air, and Delhizens put on their bestculture-soaking attire for three days and turned out in numbers that would makea Bryan Adams concert manager turn a very rich shade of green.
Jahan-e-Khusrau seems to be that rare event where the performers enjoyperforming as much as the audience enjoys listening to them. Throughout thethree days, this writer couldn’t help but be distracted from the wonderfulmusic by the obvious joy that the performers got and gave during theirperformances. At a time when there are as many technically near-perfect yetoddly uninspiring classical music performances as there are people willing tosit through them, to see everyone from Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh, fromthe Rumi Group of Iran to everybody’s darling Abida Parveen to first timeperformers Aman and Ayan Ali Bangash, lose themselves in their performances andsing purely as people who love their art, was a welcome surprise indeed.
At the risk of sounding clichéd, each of the performers brought something newto the concert, and this writer was spared from ever once looking at his watchin frustration. But, let’s face it, platitudes aside, Abida stole the show. Itis perhaps unfair to ask others to compete with a crowd-rousing rendition of DumMast Qalandar as the final song of the festival, but the truth is that she hadthem beat far before that. Effortless, engaged, and—in another welcomecontrast to years past—seemingly willing to sing happily for hours, she madesure she was worthy of the ovation she received before she had even sung a note!The unlikely challenger to her throne, however, was this year’s surprise—DalerMehndi. Shedding his ‘Bolo Tara Rara’ avatar for more of the wonderful vocalrendering we heard for the first time in the song ‘Ruh Ba Ru’ from the Maqboolsoundtrack, Daler Mehndi seems to have evlolved his kalam in new and wonderfulways—now if only he would leave that electronic synthesiser behind and let hisvoice lead the way, all would be perfect. The Rumi Group from Iran made itsfourth appearance, and the dafs this time kept wonderful sync not only withAbida but lent ample support to the lead vocalist’s stunning vocals that sobeautifully brought the verses of Rumi to Humayun’s final resting place in ourcity.
Kudos to the organisers—they oversold tickets just enough, the screens worked,the monuments looked lovely despite the lavender lighting (pray tell, why?) andthe slightly strange fake stone podiums that they will hopefully avoid nexttime—but they pulled off an event that rightly has a proud place in the citycalendar.
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This article originally appeared in Delhi City Limits, March 31, 2006
