NCPA’s seminar focused on the many shades of Bhakti

The two-day NCPA seminar saw veteran performers and speakers dwell deep into devotion in Indian music

Bhakti or devotion has been the mainstay of Indian music and culture since ancient times. The International Foundation for Fine Arts, in collaboration with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Mumbai, recently organised a seminar on the ‘Aspect of Bhakti in Indian Music Traditions’ at its Experimental Theatre.

This initiative was part of the unbroken series of NCPA seminars started by Pt. Arvind Parikh, as the chairman of the ITC-Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) Western Region in 1991. The eagerly-awaited annual event has resumed, post-Pandemic, despite the withdrawal of support by the SRA, under the expert guidance of the musician/scholar Arvind , assisted by his disciple/daughter Purvi Parikh.

The thoughtfully conceived seminar encompassed bhakti, as reflected in almost all musical traditions prevalent in India and beyond. Besides Bhakti Sangeet, a genre that is identified with devotion and dedication towards the Almighty and the guru. The two-day seminar explored the relevance of bhakti in myriad genres from folk and classical to semi-classical, light, and folk music, through talks and performances by eminent scholars and reputed practitioners of the respective genres.

Keynote speaker Gaurav Gadgil deliberated upon the concept of bhakti, its history, and practice from the Indian perspective and similar concepts in Sufism and the Western World. Dhanashree Lele spoke about the Navadha (nine kinds of) Bhakti and its relation to music most convincingly.

The knowledgeable, quick-witted Shekhar Sen introduced Bhakti Gayan, with the metaphor of an old pickle with its delectable aroma and flavour, while notating ‘Samarpan’ (devotion) as ‘Sa Ma Re Pa Ni’ eloquently. He also demonstrated Bhakti-Gayan through the poetry of Rasakhan, and by playing the audio recording of the Brahmananda Pada ‘Jo bhaje hari ko sada’ in the voice of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi.

Dhrupad singer Uday Bhawalkar made the audience feel the element of Bhakti through his tuneful meditative alap in Ahir-Bhairav. “Bhakti is related to one’s own experience!” he said, adding that Dhrupad has Bhakti in both the swara and pada.

Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty defined bhakti as unconditional surrender and demonstrated how reaching a particular note with total surrender and tunefulness enlivens the raga, and musical forms such as khayal, tarana and tappa. He reiterated that this comes through shravana and manan — guided listening and meditating upon it with complete devotion.