City’s culture cup overflows with 25 pahats in 5 days

Nagpur: A day ahead of Diwali on Narak Chaturdashi there is a tradition, especially in Maharashtra, to rise early to bathe and cleanse oneself. Once these ablutions are done, families utilize the early morning hours by listening to music. This tradition has continued and has spawned into professionally organized Diwali Pahat.

For the five days of Diwali, nearly 25 localities in the city organize a pahat. Most are held by the local residential bodies with the help of public representatives but some are also held by musical groups.

Seven years back Bhanudas Kulkarni and his wife Sheela held a Diwali pahat in Laxmi Nagar under their Swarvedh banner. "We got a good response, there was a demand for such events," says Kulkarni.

"Three years later we organized three programmes with a theme and now for the past two years we are holding it on all five days. On Thursday, we have a programme of Ajay Atul (Marathi) and RD Burman's (Hindi) songs which bear similarity and will be an attraction to the youth too," he says.

Tabla player Ravi Satfale, who is part of two such events, says that it is best to root for Hindustani classical music on such platforms. "At Dindayal Nagar, 10 to 12-year-old students of a music academy presented early morning ragas. It was well received," he says.

On the inclusion of film songs, classical vocalist Manjushree Sonam says, "Other who sing with me will be singing semi-classical and film songs too as the public enjoys them more. I will present a short bandish in classical morning ragas."

Singer and musician Mohd Salim is also organizing a morning event at Dharampeth for Dande Foundation. "We have compiled a list of devotional songs and bhav geet. Film songs are only on request. Anchor Syyed Shirin will be speaking about the significance of the festival in Urdu," says Salim.

Since all the programmes have almost the same structure, the variation comes from the singers and their style. "I pick classical-based songs. Since I have an understanding of the ragas, other singers and I try to improvise and make it sound fresh," says singer Vinod Wakhare.

Advocate Meenakshi Dawara says too much commercialization has taken away the original feel of pahats. "What used to be an opportunity to meet and enjoy a morning with friends over a bit of music has now become a professionally organized early morning musical concert," she says.