Age-old traditions and India’s cultural bounty came alive in a mesmerising setting at the 19th edition of the Sacred River Festival in Maheshwar.
I shut my eyes and could practically feel the reverberations of the santoor and tabla against my skin and was immediately transported to a trance like state. The air around me was chillier than I expected, but the warmth of the surrounding diyas lent a strange comfort. Another chord on the santoor was struck, the tabla answered, and audience burst into a huge round of applause. I’m at the first performance of the evening at the Sacred River Festival 2023 at The Ahilya Fort Hotel in Maheshwar.
A Confluence of History and Arts
Each year, Ahilya Fort Heritage Hotel brings together the best of Indian classical artforms on the banks of river Narmada at the Sacred River Festival in the month of February. And this year is no different; in its 19th edition this year, the festival took place after a three-year covid-induced hiatus. Immersing the guests in India’s rich performing culture by means of vocal, instrumental and dance idioms, the festival is a unique cultural event. Presented by The Ahilya Bai Holkar Memorial Charitable Trust and Mary McFadden, the theme for this year was ‘shaamya’—finding peace through reconciliation and brotherhood.
“Indian music is very intimate. Earlier it was either performed in court before the nobles or Maharaja or in temples in front of the lord. Our interest was to create that atmosphere and bring back the tradition,” Maharaj Kumar Richard Holkar tells me one afternoon.
The 4-day event began on the evening of February 3rd with Maharaj Kumar Richard Holkar and Yeshwant Rao Holkar paying their respects to Devi Ahilya Bai, coupled with a small performance of devotional songs by local singers. And the festivities were all set to begin the next day.
The festival follows a set format: lecture demonstrations in the mornings, followed by full-fledged performances in the evening. And these lecture demonstrations are nothing like what one would imagine. Highly interactive and culturally stimulating, these demonstrations, in an extremely personal setting, are a preview of the finale performance that is set to take place in the evening.
Sacred River Festival 2023 Line-up
Although the festival took place after a gap, nothing seems to have changed. “The festival is the same. One of the unique features about the festival is that the guests have an opportunity to interact with the artists here. For instance, the way Anjana [the comperer] and Yashoda Thakore interacted and explained certain things about dancing, even I didn’t know some,” adds Holkar. Another unique feature at the Sacred River Festival is that no two performances are at the same venue—each set happens a new venue to give the guests a holistic experience of the place.
This year the festival saw five groups of artists, each incorporating the concept of ‘shaamya’ in their own unique way. The first performance on day one was by Varsha Agrawal, who stands out as a rare female santoor player, accompanied by Pandit Lalit Mahant on the tabla. The performance was followed by a soulful qawwali by Ustad Abdul Hameed Sabri and group from Delhi. Ustad Sabri belongs to an illustrious lineage of musicians adhering to the Delhi Gharana that traces its origins to the mystic Amir Khusrau.
On day two, GS Rajan captured the attention of the audience with his bamboo flute that symbolises love and enchantment. As a soloist and composer for over three decades, Rajan has developed a personal expression and is known for adapting the North Indian flute to South India’s Carnatic music. He was accompanied by his son, Shyam, on the tabla. The second day also saw Yashoda Thakore sensitising the audience to India’s complex cultural history as well as performing Kuchipudi and Devdasi Nrityam.
The festival ended with a solo performance on the final day—Vidushi Kalapini Komkali enchanting the audience with Hindustani vocals. The artist not only does justice to the literary and melodic nuances of North Indian classical music but also enhances the folksy charm of traditional songs of the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.
On asking about the selection of the artists, Maharaj Holkar says, “We wanted to give smaller artists the experience of a venue like this. In fact, they’ll tell you how much they appreciate this kind of an atmosphere. It is really rewarding.”
On asking about what one should look forward to at the property next, Prince Holkar says, “One of my interests is that the people who visit Maheshwar should leave with more than what they came with—more knowledge and experience. And hence, we are converting two rooms—namely Kesar and Haldi—to a museum.”
“Ahilyabai had a very interesting life which generally is not appreciated or not known by most people who have heard of her. They mostly know her as a pious woman who built temples. But she was a good administrator, had her army under control, and her court was always open. We want people to know that,” he adds before signing off.
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