NEW DELHI:Delhi needs proper cultural presentation. The culture and heritage sites of the city have a unique identity of their own. Earlier, there used to be many cultural functions at these sites, which benefitted the people involved, but now that is not the case.
I believe that with such events, there is a certain kind of identification of culture, which is hard to distinguish at present. Maybe we could have a concept like Jamuna Ke Teer in the city to uplift the sites and classical music in the country.
Such cultural presentation is going to take the effort from the people and the government in creating awareness and space at heritage sites. The way Delhi is located with numerous sites and if classic art events are held, it can revive the Dilli culture and make it vibrant.
The industry also needs to push the art forward. Long back, there used to be Mushaire in Delhi and people had developed a taste for it. Today, my fear is that if someone is asked to listen to the ghazals of Ghalib, they would not appreciate it; the situation might be so bad. And the only reason behind this is that there is no appreciation, understanding and analysis of such language anymore among the people; such things are hard to grasp.
There is an urgent need for some kind of cultural policy, which is unfortunately missing. Had we thought about associating music with sites, the situation would have been different; it’s not that we don’t have good ghazal singers in the country. An overnight festival is one concept that Delhi should explore more. We should create interest in the public for light and classic music, so that it can revolutionise the culture of the capital city.
The author is a santoor maestro