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World Sacred Spirit Festival Brings The Most Talented Sufi Singers From Across The World Under One Roof.

By Charu Chowdhary

Source: World Sacred Spirit Festival: An Ode to Sufi Music

World Sacred Spirit Festival happening in Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort from February 22 – 24, is a platform that brings international and Indian Sufi artists together creating a magical two days with that genre of music. The labyrinthine alleys of the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort come alive during the festival, that otherwise sings of the heroic warriors who inhabited the fort in the bygone era. Essentially, it’s a great place for a music festival because this is where the Vedic heritage rubbed shoulders with Turkish-Mughal, Persian, and Arabic civilisations; a coexistence that gave birth to a unique musical universe.

Sufi music is considered to be a conversation with the power guiding us all, and by celebrating it, people connect at large. Artists from countries including Iran, Egypt, Mongolia, China, Pakistan, and many other places participate in the festival. The event involves dance, music and poetry performances by celebrated artists.

This year, the theme is to celebrate the musical encounter on the Silk Route: through art from the Azeri court; dances from Samarkand, Bukhara, and the distant Uighur desert, and songs from the Anatolian mountains. A tribute to Mira Bai’s poetry is also on the cards; everybody will celebrate the spiritual fervour of her poetry in their own way.

You’ll also get to experience the medley of stringed instruments from Mongolia, China and Sweden with the fiddles, sarangis, and kamaichas of Rajasthan. The artists to watch out for especially are: the young, iconic violinist, Ambi Subramaniam, the son of L. Subramaniam; Shujaat Khan who will take Indian Sufi poetry to its peak of elegance; reformist musician and pioneer of Hindustani Sufi poetry – Amir Khusrau, and of course the Kurdish Sufis from Iran.

Th electrical stringed instruments will not only take us on a path to ecstasy but will also a celebration of the beauty of nature, the divine creation, and music conceived by the human mind.