Oldest Music Festival

The Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan held since 1875 in Jalandhar has carved a niche for itself, writes SATISH K KAPOORMusic appeals to the senses, purifies the mind and uplifts the soul. Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan, the oldest Hindustani classical music festival, expressing the loftiest feelings of devotion and piety, has been celebrated every year in Jalandhar since 1875. The sammelan has been aptly recognised as a national festival of music by the Indian government. It allows free entry to all irrespective of region or religion. It was started by Baba Harivallabh to pay homage to his preceptor Baba Tulja Giri, who hailed from the Dashanami Sampradaya established by Adi Shankaracharya. Harivallabh was born at Bajwara, a town founded by the medieval dhrupad musician, Baiju Bawara. Bajwara, in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, is about 45 km from Jalandhar. It was in Jalandhar that Harivallabh learnt the rudiments of music from Pandit Duni Chand and subsequently, from Tulja Giri who turned him into a maestro. Although he was familiar with many styles of singing, such as pada, khayal, alap and tappa, he preferred the dhrupad mode for rendering bhajans.Dhrupad is said to be a refrain or a quarter of a song, and is considered to be the most difficult, yet the purest and most delightful, form of singing.Initially, participants in the sammelan included only holy persons, who sang bhajans in the traditional dhrupad style. It was more or less a local celebration which began with a yajna,Vedic fire ritual, and ended with the distribution of free food among the poor and the wandering mendicants. But after the death of Harivallabh in 1885, his disciple, Pandit Tolo Ram,built his samadhi in the vicinity of the Devi Talab Mandir complex, and conserved his tambura, and his slippers.Thereafter,the music festival came to be known after him.The festival gained popularity when Pandit Vishnu Digambar, known for composing Gandhiji’s favourite bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram...’ attended it in 1908. In the course of time, artists from outside Punjab converged in Devi Talab Mandir every year to perform for free. In 1922, the Shree Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Mahasabha was formed to conduct the music festival in a more organised manner. The centenary celebrations of the sammelan held in 1977 attracted nation-wide attention as a galaxy of acclaimed musicians and singers participated in it.In the early 1980s, the sammelan was postponed due to terrorism in Punjab. It was revived by the North Zone Cultural Centre-Patiala, in 1989.After 1992, the music festival was organised again by Harivallabha Sangeet Mahasabha, which consisted of prominent citizens of Jalandhar. Music in its various manifestations keeps evolving, taking different shapes and forms as per time and milieu, because the cosmic vibrations of various hues in the ‘sonoriferous ether’ permeates both the universe and human beings. This partly explains the vast array of presentations,both vocal and instrumental — on rudra veena, Saraswati veena, sarod, sitar, violin, shehnai, nagaswaram, bansuri, dilruba, pakhawaj, tabla or jalatarang — at this music festival, which has carved a niche for itself in the Limca Book of Records. ■ This year the festival will be held from December 22-24