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Delhiites cherish spiritual delight at Bhakti Utsav

     New Delhi: It was a soulful experience beyond explanations for any ordinary human being when hundreds of music lovers felt completely absorbed as they got an occasion to embrace Sufism for a few hours here while attending an annual musical event which started this Friday. The event named "Bhakti Utsav" (or, devotional festival) has been organised by the Delhi government in cooperation with the cultural ministry and New Delhi Municipal Corporation. The Sufi music lovers were thrilled as country' s famous Sufi duo--Wadali brothers-Puran Chand Wadali and Piyare Lal Wadali- from Punjab gave another touching performance while singing their hit numbers at the fiesta. "Classical music is one of the purest forms of music and connects one directly to God. To be related to music is ultimate pleasure," said Piyare Lal Wadali. Besides performances from Sufi singers within the country, the first day of the three-day long event also had Singers from Sri Lanka who performed at the show. The musical extravaganza will also see artists from Bangladesh and Pakistan performing over the next three days. Originated in tenth century Persia (or, the modern day Iran), Sufism, an offshoot of Islam, reached Indian subcontinent after 200 years. It evolved as the modern form of Qawwali. Even when the Islam, founded in the seventh century, abhors music and singing, the Sufi sect, with more than nine million adherents, practices such musical entrancement. Sufism is a philosophy that glorifies every religion as the path to righteousness without being associated with any particular religious belief. It gives precedence to love for humanity above everything else. Contemporary singers like the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen from Pakistan, India's Wadali brothers, Mohammed El-Sheikh Juma of Sudan, Roomi of Iran, Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, Baul singers from Bangladesh along with the new Pakistani pop groups like Junoon have all contributed in revitalizing this form of 'religious' singing in the recent times.
-April 8, 2006