Listening to Hindustani music in Punjab is a unique experience. In Punjab, the culture of classical music and dance was disrupted by repeated invasions over the centuries, and the art forms were not respected as in other parts of India.
Despite this, the country’s oldest classical music festival, the 147-year-old Harivallabh Mahotsav, is held in Jalandhar. This and the festival of Bhaini Sahib, Ludhiana are the most prestigious festivals of the region.
The Harivallabh festival is named after the saint-singer Baba Harivallabh, and was launched after his death. Bhaini Sahib is the center of classical music in Punjab today, promoted by three successive Gurus.
That said, the ‘mahaul’ (atmosphere) at these two concerts is totally different.
Bhaini Sahib’s experience is real. Every member of the audience is dressed in white, and their head is covered with a scarf or turban to show respect for their spiritual mentor, Sadhguru Uday Singh. The annual festival was started in a formal manner only nine years ago, though concerts have been a part of Bhaini Sahib.
Harivallabh has a completely different vibe with a festive spirit and an enthusiastic audience that one usually associates with listeners from Punjab. The great Kesar Bai once said, “The journey from Maharashtra to Punjab was arduous, yet it had to be done annually, as it was one of the most important classical music festivals. In Harivallabh the listeners don’t have time to search for your music within themselves, they need something impactful, fast. This is true even today.
Both the festivals have a spiritual context, however, it is still experienced in Bhaini Sahib. Classical music is a part of the daily routine in the 2,000-strong community of Namdhari Sikhs in Bhaini village. The children here go to music classes every day apart from school. Since each of the approximately 6,000 verses in the Guru Granth Sahib is traditionally sung, the ‘kirtan’ tradition at Bhaini Sahib remains a vibrant one, and is imbibed even by children.
Kala Ramnath played a rare raga called Shuddha Barari. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The music session at the festival starts at 5.30 pm and goes on till 10 pm without any break. Yet the seating style audience sits through each performance and leaves only after the concert is over.
Like Harivallabh, Bhaini Sahib festival provides a platform to young aspirants. The 2022 edition also included a vocal music competition, held for the first time. It was attended by 165 participants from across the country. The winner was given a cash prize of Rs. one lakh.
The festival really saw some great performances – Mehtab Ali Niazi, along with Ishaan Ghosh, mesmerized the audience with their mastery of the instruments. Naamdhari Kirpal Singh Panesar of Birmingham played the wire clarinet. This unusual instrument resembles the strumming mandolin, but is treated as a stringed clarinet, hence the name. Kala Ramnath played a rare raga called Shuddha Barari. He maintained the distinctive ‘shakal’ (characteristic) of the raga, without repeating idioms, even though he played it for less than an hour.
The vocal duet between Guru Bhai Anol Chatterjee and Brajeshwar Mukherjee of the Patiala gharana was interesting. They completed each other’s musical ideas. There was an unusual duet between Satyajit Talwalkar on tabla and Guru Bhai Bernard Simpelsberger on drums.
The festival ends with sarod maestro Tejendra Narayan Majumdar along with Punjab Gharana exponent Yogesh Samsi, which is hosted with great respect at Bhaini Sahib. Playing with seriousness, Tejendra’s rendition was indeed one of the best concerts this writer has heard.
The Harivallabh festival is held in the temple premises. The concerts start at 3 pm and end around 2 am. Perhaps it would be more practical to have shorter sessions; It is difficult to absorb four to five hours of music. The extremely cold weather made it difficult for both the audience and the artistes. Mahesh Kale, whose performance closed the festival, said the song was difficult. However, his excellent rendition of abhangas belied this.
The pace and vigorous style of performance in Harvallabh is loved by the audience. The most acclaimed concerts in the 2022 edition included Ram Kumar Mishra’s solo tabla along with his talented son Rahul Kumar, Vishwamohan Bhatt and son Salil Bhatt, violinist Johar Ali Khan, Praveen Kumar Arya’s Pakhawaj, Aishwarya Arya and Chhavi Joshi were involved. and Shashank Subramaniam.
Harivallabh has always had a tradition of introducing senior artistes as well as newcomers and this year was no different. There were many exponents of the Patiala gharana, including singers Ajoy Chakraborty, Anjana Nath, Aziz Ahmed (grandson of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), Samrat Pandit and Johar Ali Khan. Other fine concerts included Bangalore-based sitar maestro Anupama Bhagwat, Mumbai-based Dhananjay Hegde, Jaipur-based surbahar exponent Ashwin Dalvi and Dhrupad vocalist Madhu Tailang, and sarod maestro Tejendra Majumdar. It was interesting to hear musicians not usually seen in the festival circuit such as singer Sanjukta Das (Kolkata), Sujata Gurav Kamar (Dharwad) and Bhaskar Nath on shehnai.
The credit for keeping classical music alive in Punjab should be given to both the festivals.