Songs sung in spirit of sufi

The ruin is not dead. It’s just silent until the sounds of devotional music rumble through its cryptic environs.
Daler Mehndi
Daler Mehndi

The ruin is not dead. It’s just silent until the sounds of devotional music rumble through its cryptic environs. Arab ki Sarai, Humayun’s Tomb, will rise to the sounds of Sufism during Jahan-e-Khusrau, the 13th edition of world Sufi music festival presented by filmmaker, poet and revivalist Muzaffar Ali. Rumi Foundation in association with DS Puri Foundation is organising this event after two years. Before it went into a little lacuna, it would every year bring a host of artists from various Sufi traditions.

 Sonam Kalra
 Sonam Kalra

This year, artistes such as Daler Mehndi, Satinder Sartaj, Sukhwinder Singh, Malini Awasthi, Ustad Ahmed Khan and Sonam Kalra are performing. Before Ali started planning the festival a few months back, he had been reading about Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar’s history. The story of this Muslim missionary, also one of the founding fathers of the Chishti order, needed to be told again. Called Baba Farid fondly, he was a bridge between people and faiths, realised Ali as he learnt more about him.

“Not only that, he brought together different generations, faiths, people, masters and disciples, and most importantly, the mind and the heart. He is one of the greatest saints of all times and we wanted everyone to remember him for what he always stood,” he says. Years ago, while basking in the sublimity of Kashmir, Ali went through the kalams of the Kashmiri Sufiyana community and realised their eternal beauty. Even in times of conflict and turmoil in the region, Ali says, Sufi music came as a solace to the soul. “In its essence, its teachings are very poignant.

It teaches you to go beyond the material world, to be truthful, to embrace awareness, to practise selflessness... and all these are urgently required to be practised in today’s times,” he points out. By internalising Farid’s greatness, Ali believes, each one of us can develop hearts without hate. “Just like he tended to the misery-stricken, assuaged their wounds, pulled up their hearts and infused new life and confidence in their broken nerves, so should our sympathy gave people courage,” says Ali. March 24 to March 26, at 6.30 pm, at Arab Ki Sarai, Humayun’s Tomb. For entry, invites are available at Kotwara, DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj.

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