The Delhi Government’s art, and culture department, Sahitya Kala Parishad that promotes various Indian art and culture, received an overwhelming response for its two-day long Ghazal Festival held on 23rd and 24th of February 2023. The audience was seen enjoying the festival at the L.T.G Auditorium, Mandi House.
The first day of the festival opened with an amazing performance by versatile artist Suman Devgan. Her presentation included ‘Halke halke suro main Ghazal chediye’ composed by Raza Amrohvi, ‘Maan mausam ka kaha’ by Bashir Badr, ‘Dil to kehta hai ke shikva kijiye’ by Akhter, ‘Shehre zindagi tanha’ from Rifat Sarosh’s collection and ‘Manzilon se begana’ by Ghulam Rabbani Taban. The second performance of the evening was by Poonam Chauhan. Known for her Semi classical (thumri Dadra) and light music (ghazal), Poonam sang a selection of lovely ghazals. Beginning with Iqbal Aleem’s ‘Kuchh aise zakhm bhi darparda,’ Parveen Shakir’s ‘Ik hunar tha kamaal tha kya tha,’ and Mirza Ghalib’s ‘Ye hum jo hijr mein. She then sang ‘Bikhre bikhre sahme sahme’ by Meraj Faizabadi, ‘Kabhi kaha na kisi se’ by Qamar Jalalvi, and ‘Muhabbat karne wale kum na honge’ by Hafeez hoshiyarpuri. The audience were treated with many more ghazals in Poonam’s voice like ‘Salona sa sajan hai aur main hun, ‘Niyat-e-shauq bhar na jaye’ by Nasir Kazmi, ‘Aie muhabbat tere anjam pe’ by Shakeel Badayuni, ‘Naseem-e-subh gulshan’ by Seemab Akbarabadi, ‘Dil dharakney ka sabab by Nasir Kazmi and ‘Kab tak dil ki khair manayein’ by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
On the second day of the festival, audience got to see Ustad Ahmad Husain and Mohammad Husain, presenting some seven heart touching ghazals like ‘Chal mere saath hi chal aye meri jan-e-ghazal’, ‘Mausam aayenge jayenge’, ‘Nazar mujhse milati ho to tum sharma si jati ho’, ‘Musafir hain hum to chale ja rahe hain’, ‘Main hawa hoon kahan watan mera’, ‘Kabhi yun bhi aa meri aankh mein’, and ‘Ae sanam tujhse main jab door chala jaunga’. The festival concluded with Dr Roshan Bharti’s performance. A well-known figure in the ghazal world, Dr Roshan started his recitation with Shahid Kabir’s ‘Besabab baat badhaane ki zaroorat kya hai, Hum khafa kab the manaane ki zaroorat kya hai.’ This was followed by ‘Dil lagane ki kisi se wo saza pai ke bas, aisi Aisi ishq mein is dil pe ban aayi ke bas’ by Shamim Jaipuri, ‘Pyar ka jazba bhi kya rang dikha deta hai, Ajnabi chehre ko mehboob bna deta hai’ by Arif Naksh Bandi, Uske haste chehre se tow aisa lagta hai, Shayad usko mera naa milna acha lagta h’ by Dr. Sagar Faraz, Main chaahta bhi yahi tha woh bewafa nikle, Usey samajhne ka koi toh silsila nikle’ by Waseem Barelvi.
He ended his presentation with Nazm Shayar Dansh’s ‘Jane Jana Meri Chale Aao, Jane Jana Meri Chale Aao’.
Expressing her joy on another successful edition of the Ghazal Festival, Dr. Monica Priyadarshini, Secretary, Sahitya Kala Parishad said, “We are grateful to all of the artists and the entire staff for helping to make this festival a huge success. The audience who accepted this event with open arms is our source of encouragement to continue organizing such large-scale festivals. With these cultural festivals, we want to bring you back to the golden period of Indian culture and art.”
