Bhakti Sangeet Festival opens day 1 with soulful bhajans

New Delhi, April 22, 2022: Sahitya Kala Parishad and the Department of Art, Culture and Languages, Delhi government have set the stage ready to create an aura of melodious devotional music with the Bhakti Sangeet Festival. The 3-day long festival celebrating the plurality of faith and expressions in devotional music kick-started on 22nd April and will continue till 24th April 2022.

The evening was opened with a lamp lighting by senior officials of the Government of NCT of Delhi, Manisha Saxena - Principal Secretary H&FW, Government of Delhi, Dr. Monica Priyadarshini I.A.S. Secretary, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Swati Sharma, Secretary of Department and other officials. The first day of the festival saw some incredible artists line up with great performances. The devotional recital was started by Suranjan Khandalkar, a promising classical vocalist from Pune belonging to Patiyala Gharana. His rendition included Shriram Shlok like ‘Hari bhajan ko man re’, ‘Bhaj man ram Nam sukhdayi’, ‘Bolo Ram ram bolo Shyam / Bolawa Vitthal’, ‘He Shivshankar’, ‘Khelane na jau maiyyan’, ‘Madhur Dhuni Baje’, and ‘Baje Muraliya baje’. This was followed by another soul touching bhajan performance by Indira Naik who is classically trained in the Patiala Gayaki. She performed a mix of popular Bhajans written by famous saints. Her first bhajan was ‘Mharo pranam’ by Sant Meerabai, followed by Kabir bhajan like ‘Man laago mero yaar fakiri mein’ and ‘Bhajo re bhaiya Ram Govind Hari’. She sang an additional couple of popular Bollywood bhajans like ‘Tu Pyaar ka Sagar hai’, ‘Jo tum Todo Piya’ and a few Dohas of Kabir. Renowned devotional singers Agnihotri Bandhu of Lucknow’s beautiful duet vocal rendition ended the first day of the festival with the chants of Ram Bhajan ‘Jai Jai Surnayak Jaan Sukh Dayk’; ‘Ram Ram Gao Santo’ by Shri Hanuman Prasad Poddar Ji. Later, they sang ‘Ambe Jagdambe Tere Darshan’ by Dr Yogesh Praveen, Shri Hanuman Chalisa; ‘Ab toh palak uthao Bhagwan by Dr Yogesh Praveen followed by ‘Namami- shamishan nirvan rupam’. The duo was accompanied by Prateek Samadar on Tabla, Prakhar Singh Parihar on Dholak, Aftab Alam on Synth, side rhythm by Krishna Mohan Kumar and Keyboard by Vijay Kumar Saini.

The three-day festival will see some amazing artists from various genres performing on a single stage. The second evening will see the soulful renditions of Dr Subhadra Desai, followed by Kalapini Komkali and the world-famous singer Daler Mehndi. On the third day, the audience will be treated to a melodious performance by Dr Meeta Pandit, followed by Dr Madan Gopal Singh and the popular artists Prashant and Nishant Malik.