New Delhi:
Radhika Bordia reports from Nagaur and Jodhpur, Rajasthan on a Sufi music festival.
Every spring the Ahhichatragarh Fort in Nagaur is transformed. The unusually stunning spaces of this fort in the Rajasthani desert town become the perfect backdrop for the first part of the World Sufi Spirit festival. The music festival is organised by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust and the second part is held in Jodhpur.
Most of the artists, like Abir Nehme from Lebanon, are performing in India for the first time.
Abir brings a repertoire of chants from the Syriac, Maronite and Byznatine churches. She sings in Aramic, the lost language of Jesus.
"I come from a land that is torn apart --- a land that has a beautiful heritage," she says. "Music is the only language that everybody can understand."
Mohamaed Ba Jeddoub and the Al Chabab orchestra from Morocco perform Arab-Andalusian music, transmitted by Moroccon Jews.
Cultural connections are obvious as artists from distinctly different musical traditions spread across West Asia, North Africa, Iran, Central and South Asia sing the shared poetry of Amir Khusrau, Shams-i-tabriz, Jallaludin Rumi and Hafiz.
Equally interesting is the different political contexts in which their music unfolds.
This Ismail group from Badakhsan in Tajikistan, brings to life the folk traditions of the Pamir hills and the spiritual songs of Rumi.
If in Badakshan mosques resound to spiritual songs of Rumi it works differently for the Shams-e-ensemble from Iran who say they have to get the permission of the government for a full concert.
Twenty years of rigorous conservation have turned the Nagaur Fort around completely. But unlike Jodhpur or Jaisalmer it's not on tourist itineraries in quite the same way. The idea of the festival was to try and change that and use the spaces of the fort effectively to ensure constant maintenance.
Nagaur was already famous for the dargah of a prominent Chistiya saint Hamiddudn Nagauri so the choice of a Sufi music festival was apt. But here the festival is limited to those who stay in the tented accommodation which is expensive.
In Jodhpur , on the other hand, the organisers point out, the attempt was to draw in wider audiences, showcase the region's rich local music traditions and give tourists a more enriched experience.
So far, this festival effectively integrates commerce, conservation and culture
But it will be interesting to see if it can continue to maintain its high standards of music specially at a time when this genre of music is being intensely commercialised.