Night-long ‘Mushairas’, ‘Kavi Sammelans’ and ‘Qawwalis’ — the Government is planning it all in its bid to enhance inter-community faith, relationship and goodwill in the country. The Government is planning these ‘Cultural Harmony Conclaves’ across major cities and townships and villages and will have the involvement of local talents.
Besides creating a good air of bonhomie among citizens, the attempt is to “revive and sustain musical and cultural legacy” and make it vibrant wherever it is dormant.
The string of programmes all over the country is being worked out under the aegis of Ministry of Minority Affairs with Minister of State Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi seeking it to be a very ambitious and self-driven exercise at a later stage.
Naqvi said it was necessary to live up to “our diverse cultural traditions” and send out a message inherent in them to maintain an atmosphere of love and brotherhood.
He said India was very rich in musical renditions with 600 languages and 24 religious faiths contributing to them over centuries.
The musical traditions which are dormant could be revived and placed on high pedestal in these events.
Naqvi referred to singing of ‘Virah Geet’ in East Uttar Pradesh as also ‘Sufi Sangeet’ which would be high on the list of programmes that will be looking at many art forms dying on account of lack of Governmental promotion.
“ Area-specific local poets, ‘Qawwals’, Shayars, Sufi singers, Hindi poets, Ghazal masters and other artists would be found out and given a platform,” the minister said. “These could be night-long affairs,” he said indicating that a ‘night-life’ around cultural functions could lead to better inter-personal community relations and confidence in each other while enjoying the events.
The Ministry wants to exploit to the full the rich and mixed Indian cultural heritage and seep it down at the lowest levels through various formats. Famous Ghazal singers Begum Akhtar, Jagjeet Singh and Sufi qawwal Habeeb Painter have in the past regaled by way of their syncretic singing all over the country.
Habeeb not only sang qawwalis and sufiana songs but also used songs that were full of Krishna, Satsanga, Sidha and Yoga. He was a spiritual disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin and Amir Khusro.
The ministry is planning out a data of all budding singers and artists at local levels to usher in continuous night outs for those who love the ‘Ganga-Yamuna Tahjeeb’. The programmes will be implemented in a big way by the turn of next year.