Urdu literary festival Jashn-e-Rekhta concluded on Sunday with a qawwali performance by Nizami Bandhu of Rockstar fame.
The three-day witnessed multiple panel discussions, music and dance performances, open poetry recitation, mushairas , ghazal sarai and dastangoi sessions, calligraphy workshops, film screenings, book launches and live music performances.
The final day comprised sessions like dastangoi performed by Nadeem Shah and Shankar Musafir, lyricist Javed Akhtar’s conversation on adab, ishq aur zindagi , a panel discussion on ‘Ghalib Beyond Time’ by Pavan K. Varma and musical rendition of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s works, among others. Actor and television presenter Annu Kapoor discussed the history around Urdu in his session ‘Urdu ka Surila Safar ’.
Informal discussion
In his informal discussion on ishq and zindagi , Mr. Akhtar, in conversation with Atika Ahmad Farooqui, talked about his general experiences with cinema in India and how it has evolved over the years. He grieved over Bollywood’s commodification of women, use of vulgar and double meaning words, and shift of target audience from the middle/working class to elites “who can afford a ₹500-₹700 ticket to a cinema hall”. The poet-lyricist also read out some of his namzs for the audience.
UK-based vocalist Tanya Wells and classically trained guitarist Paulo Vinícius from Brazil were the special guests at the festival. They performed several Urdu songs and ghazals, and mesmerised the audience with their perfect talafuz (pronunciation) of Urdu words.
Ms. Wells has spent a few years in India and her love for Indian classical music inspired her to come up with her own band, Seven Eyes. The band composes songs that bring together diverse musical influences, including folk, jazz, Brazilian and Hindustani classical music, to explore a confluence of cultures and languages. Besides performing some of Faiz’s ghazals , the duo also performed a fusion of Urdu and French music dedicated to victims of the Syrian crisis.
In his session, ‘Ghalib Beyond Time’, Mr. Varma recited some of Ghalib’s poetry. He said Ghalib was well ahead of his contemporaries and the complexities of issues of his time. Talking about translations, he said they opened up texts to wider audiences but a lot was lost in the process. “English cannot become a substitute for any of our languages. It is important to preserve our literature in memory and in writing in our very own tongue,” he added.
