MUMBAI; It’s that time of the year when the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur reverberates with the musical strains filled with ecstasy, joy and infectious energy when it opens its doors to an extraordinary sacred and historical musical journey every winter at the World Sacred Spirit Festival (WSSF).
Presented by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, the World Sacred Spirit Festival (WSSF) brings together talent from different parts of the world and showcases the spiritual significance of music that transcends communities, cultures, and creeds. It is the aim of WSSF to highlight soulful music that inspires and awakens the divine in us. It immediately brings purity into our system that inspires spiritual expression as sound reflects and affects faith and values. Artist from India, Argentina, Iran, China, Mongolia, Sweden, Scotland, France, Anatolia, Spain and Algeria to present soulful music
This year too, from February 22nd to 24th 2019, the inherited and spiritual arts preserved over decades will carry you to the very origin of a tradition linked to those pilgrims of the past during the three-day celebration. The exceptional performances will introduce you once again to the travelers of the spirit, who brought to civilization a sense of inspiration and meaning. All from Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur to the Thar Desert of today.
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While the musical journey is not merely an event that transports you to another world for an enduring all-time remembrance, it is also the eventual venue where the maze of labyrinthine alleys continues to make the heroic presence of the warriors in the pristine unsullied ambience virtually come alive.
Like every year, this year’s edition too, the festival will undertake the same historical quest and celebrate the several musical encounters showcasing the finest in music. And when we take you along the celebration of the beauty of nature, or the divine creation, other electrical stringed instruments will take you on another path to ecstasy. Be it the spiritual fervor of Mira Baï’s poetry and the timeless poetry of Kabir on the one hand, or Shujaat Khan in Unforgettable Sufis performing Hindustani Sufi poetry of Amir Khusrau amalgamating the murmur of the dramatic spirit of the great maestros of Persian poetry.
There will also be the spiritual passion embodied in the soaring rhythms of the Kurdish Sufis from Iran allowing us to experience their daffs, and their true luminous spheres, reminiscent of the far away lunar worlds. Embodying the overall spirit of faraway lands, there will also be the stringed instruments from Mongolia, China, or the far north of Sweden collaborating with the fiddles, sarangis, and kamaichas from the deserts of Rajasthan. From among the repertoire of the wide ranging mosaic of Indian musicality, the winding intricacies of the Carnatic violin of the young, iconic violinist, Ambi Subramaniam, the son of Dr L. Subramaniam will merge with the fiddles in an ensemble jugalbandi.
On the occasion of making the announcement, Artistic Director, Alain Weber said, ” Located at the heart of India where the Vedic heritage rubbed shoulders with the Turkish-Mughal, Persian, and Arabic civilisations, Mehrangarh reflects a coexistence at the root of creation of a unique musical universe that gives every music aficionado an unforgettable experience. Just as much of our deeper understanding of spirituality comes from studying more ancient teachings of the Vedas, the most consistent and dependable way would be to connect to our inner voice, and that is only achieved by lifting our spirits and bringing ourselves back into balance with more spiritual music in our midst.”
Some of the other highlights of this year’s WSSF are: Raga on the Lake by Mohammad Aman presenting Khayal; Learning Music with Langas and Manganiyar Children and Nawab Khan; Flamenco with the Langa Tradition by Jackson Scott of Spain; Music from Anatolia Telli Turnalar; Jodhpur Qawwali Ensemble by Irfan Tufail; classical guitar by Lautaro Tissera Favaloro of Argentina.
