The Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav (formerly known as the Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav and simply known as Sawai) is an annual Indian Classical music festival held in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

since 1953. The festival is hosted by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal (ASPM) and initiated by

Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi BR (; ; 4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), also known by the honorific prefix Pandit, was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka, in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the '' khay ...

as a memorial music conference commemorating the life and work of Joshi's

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

, Sawai Gandharva, the festival's

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

. While Joshi was leading the organisation of the festival, performing artists received personal invitations from him to perform at it. With an emphasis on

Hindustani Classical Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

Khayal music, instrumentalists,

dancers Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South In ...

iyas, Bhakti musicians, Ghazal musicians,

Qawwali Qawwali (Punjabi language, Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nastaʿlīq, Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali language, Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali alphabet, Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Isl ...

yas, and

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

ians frequent the concert lineup. A younger artist's debut performance at the festival connotes their "arrival" and promise to the Classical music scene of India (most recently including

Rahul Deshpande Rahul Deshpande is an Indian classical music singer. He is the recipient of the 68th national award of the best playback singer for ''Me Vasantrao''. He is the grandson of Vasantrao Deshpande. Education and career Rahul developed his interes ...

Kaushiki Chakrabarty Kaushiki Chakraborty (born 24 October 1980) is an Indian classical vocalist and a composer She attended Sangeet Research Academy, and was one of the exponents of Patiala gharana. Her repertoire covers pure classical, ''Khyals, Dadras, Thumr ...

, and Mahesh Kale). Since its inception, the festival has grown into a prominent cultural soiree for Pune's musical connoisseurs, featuring the foremost musicians of traditional Indian musical forms.

History

The festival was started in 1953 on a small scale, to commemorate the first death anniversary of Sawai Gandharva, the acclaimed Hindustani Classical vocalist of the

Kirana Gharana Kirana gharana is one of the Indian classical khyal gharanas, and is concerned foremost with perfect intonation of notes (swara). Singing style The central concern of the Kirana style is swara, or individual notes, in particular precise tunin ...

. Bhimsen Joshi led the organisation of the festival from its beginning until 2002 when his health problems became of concern. Joshi's youngest son, Shrinivas Joshi, and senior disciple, Shrikant Deshpande, succeeded him as organisers. Since Joshi's death in 2011, Shrinivas Joshi has been the main organiser.

Recent years

The 2009 Festival was postponed to January 2010 due to an

H1N1 In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxoviru ...

scare in Pune. Heavy rain on 13 December 2014 caused the festival to be postponed until 1 January 2015. When Bhimsen Joshi died on 24 January 2011, the ASPM decided to rename the festival from its original name of 'Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav' to 'Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav' in his honour.

Tradition

The Sawai Gandharva Music Festival is conducted every year in the first two weeks of December over three days. In the past, the festival runs through whole the night and the days used to end in the morning. Later on, when

Pune Municipal Corporation The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC, IAST: Puṇe Mahānagarpālikā) is the civic body that governs the inner limits of Pune, India. It is in charge of the civic needs and infrastructure of the metropolis, which is spread over an area of 48 ...

set rule to finish the program before 10 pm which leads to change in the schedule of the program. Traditionally, each festival is inaugurated with a tribute honoring Sawai Gandharva, with a

Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.Sangmeshwar Gurav in 2005 and leading disciples of Joshi in 2006. The vocalist Prabha Atre has concluded every festival since 2007. The festival officially concludes with the entire audience and remaining performers listening to the

Thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dr ...

in Raag Bhairavi recording "Jamuna Ke Teer" by Sawai Gandharva, a tune made famous by and signature of his guru, Abdul Karim Khan.

Accompanists

* Pt. Appasaheb Jalgaonkar (born 1922): 1952–2009 * Pt. Arawind Thatte (born 1958): 1990–present * Pt. Purushottam Walawalkar *

Ustad Shaik Dawood Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian language, Persian, , Azerbai ...

(born 1916) 1953–1988 * Tulsidas Borkar (born 1934) 1989-2006 * Sudhir Nayak (born 1972) 1992-present

References

External links