Winters bring with it the joys of classical music festivals

Traditionally, classical music festivals are associated with the onset of winter in both North and South India. The tradition of hearing music continues till after the Navratras in April. In North India, after a lull, there are some concerts during the monsoons, dedicated to the Malhars. Later, the cool winter after the searing heat of the summer, is the perfect time for enjoying dance and music festivals. 

The ultimate, most highly regarded source of the modern North Indian classical musical tradition is Mian Tansen, said to have been born in Gwalior. A music festival in his name was apparently established after his death in 1589, and, it is said, has been continued since then, with periods in between when the festival was not held. Nowadays, it’s the Madhya Pradesh state government that organises the Tansen Samaroh every December, at Mianji’s tomb.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is Mian Tansen’s most famous musical descendent today, from both male and female lines. He lamented Mianji’s tomb being in a “dilapidated condition”. Sadly, the stature of the festival in Tansen’s name, once a premier event, is no longer there, and it is today small and insignificant. As 

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan puts it, “Mian Tansen had some great spiritual power in his music that could make even the elements of rain and fire respond. Sadly, he is largely ignored today by an insensitive government — the Madhya Pradesh Academy of Music is not named after Tansen, but after Ustad Allaudin Khan, a musical genius no doubt, but one who was not even born in Madhya Pradesh.”

Touted as the oldest classical music festival in India, with an unbroken history of 141 years, Harivallabh was at one time the most prestigious classical music festival in North India. Set near an ancient Devi temple, in the Punjabi town of Jalandhar, the festival had the tradition of being an offering of music by the artists who would come to perform for free to get blessings. Since the 20th century, the greats have performed at Harivallabh. In known history, Pandit Vishnu Digambar performed there in 1908. Held between December 22 and 25 annually, in the bitter cold with temperatures dipping below zero, this festival has its own ambience, with audiences being largely rural, yet with an instinctual appreciation of classical music. In the old days, before heaters, people kept out the bitter cold from the ground by laying out a thick layer of rice husk below the dhurries on which they sat. It was common to bring your “razai” (quilt) to snuggle into. Now, however, the old appeal has gone, but it is still a unique experience.

Bickram Ghosh and Parthosarathy. (Photo: Avishek DEY)

Another festival with a religious venue is Banaras’ Sankat Mochan Festival, held on Hanuman’s birthday according to the lunar calendar, usually in April. In existence for around 90 years now, the festival is unique in having six all-night sessions, with the artists performing as a “haazri” (offering) free of cost. The atmosphere is unique, with a largely rural, unlettered audience that displays its appreciation traditionally, rather than in the now conventional, Western habit of clapping. As a local put it, “Clapping is to scare away birds, not show appreciation for an artist.”

.The artists include Carnatic musicians and also dancers, another distinctive feature of this festival. Here, the extreme heat of April is a huge deterrent — the stone floors of the temple courtyard get so hot that sometimes the listeners throw water on the floor to cool it down. Ahmedabad boasts of the single-largest music festival of 13 days in early January — Saptak. The who’s who of the music world perform here. Pune has its own around 60-year-old tradition of the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival, held usually in the second week of December. This festival attracts the biggest crowds, said to go up to 16,000 listeners. Since there is a system of only paid tickets, this is indeed a momentous festival.

For decades now, Kolkata’s Dover Lane Festival has been the North Indian classical music festival which people wait for eagerly all year. The big festivals like the All Bengal Music Festival, Sadarang Music Festival, Park Circus music festival and others gradually died out, and now for years, Dover Lane is the premier music festival in Kolkata. Held between January 22 and 26 for the last 64 years, the festival features four all-night concerts starting around 8.30 pm and going on through the night till dawn, so that the audience can make its way home safely in daylight, on public transport. Not only locals, the audience includes listeners from all over India, and even neighbouring Bangladesh. Tickets to the event are always sold out, despite the large hall 
seating capacity of over 4,000.

Recalling the music heard in years gone by, Dr Chandrima Mazumdar, a very fine sarod player herself, remembers how when she was a child, during the Dover Lane festival, wherever you went during the day, by bus or tram or at a cafe, people would be discussing the night’s concert and analysing it thread bare.

Another festival that is slowly assuming a stature of its own is the annual Swar Samrat Festival in Kolkata. Held in either early January or now mid-December (December 16-17, 2017) the festival is named after Padmavibhushan Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who was named Swar Samrat (King of swar, the musical note) by his father, and features the best in music and dance.

Many other North Indian cities too have their annual dance festivals, including Patna, Indore, Dewas, Udaipur, and many more. One can look forward to a musically replete winter.