Delhi : After three days of devotional music and diverse expressions of love for the ultimate being, the Bhakti Sangeet festival ended today, leaving people asking for more.
Presented by the Delhi Government’s Department of Art, Culture & Languages and the Sahitya Kala Parishad, the festival of devotional music featured 14 devotional singers of different genres, including bhajans, the Sufi Qawwali tradition of India as well as the traditions of Krishna bhakti.
The last day of the festival featured the Sagun and Abhang bhakti traditions by Sanjeev Abhayankar, Sufiana qawwali by Aslam Sabri, Kabir bhajans in Madhya Pradesh’s Malwi folk style by Shri Prahlad Singh Tipania and Agnihotri bandhu (Ram and Hanuman bhakti). Eminent qawwali veteran Aslam Sabri regaled the audience with his renditions of Sufiana qawwali.
“India is a land of spiritualism and we have an extremely rich and versatile tradition of devotional music. We can find Bhakti Sangeet in every language we encounter and in every region we visit. No wonder, the festival of Bhakti Sangeet was greeted by such love from the people of Delhi,” says Smt. Rinku Dugga, Secretary, Department of Art, Culture & Languages, Govt of Delhi.
Over three days, the festival being held at the Nehru Park featured multiple strains of devotional music – from the soul stirring Buddhist chants of Bhutan, the words of Sufi Bulle Shah, kabir bhajans, Vedic chanting, Baul singing of Bengal to Qawwali and Sufiana kalams.
Prominent singers of the likes of Hans Raj Hans and Shubha Mudgal also participated in the festival, among others.
It was our Bhakti and Sufi saints who originally laid the foundation of our composite culture and the three-day Bhakti Sangeet festival is as much an ode to them as to the ultimate being.