Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival

Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav
Dates Traditionally the second weekend of December
Location(s) New English School Ramanbaug,
Pune, Maharashtra, India
Years active 1953 – present
Founded by Bhimsen Joshi,
Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal
Website
sawaigandharvabhimsenmahotsav.com

The Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav (formerly known as the Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav[1] and simply known as Sawai) is an annual Indian Classical music festival held in Pune since 1953. The festival is hosted by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal (ASPM) and initiated by Bhimsen Joshi as a memorial music conference commemorating the life and work of Joshi's guru, Sawai Gandharva, the festival's namesake.

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 Khayal music, instrumentalists, dancers, dhrupadiyas, Bhakti musicians, Ghazal musicians, Qawwaliyas, and Carnatic musicians 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, Kaushiki Chakrabarty, 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.

Bhimsen Joshi led the organisation of the festival from its beginning until 2002 when his health problems became of concern.[2] Joshi's youngest son, Shrinivas Joshi, and senior disciple, Shrikant Deshpande, succeeded him as organisers.[3] Since Joshi's death in 2011, Shrinivas Joshi and Anand Deshmukh have been the main organisers.[4]

Recent years

Heavy rain on 13 December 2014 caused the festival to be postponed until 1 January 2015.[5]

Influence of 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic

The 2009 Festival was postponed to January 2010 due to an H1N1 scare in Pune. This was the first instance in festival history of any kind of postponement.[6][7]

Criticism

Recently, many festival regulars have criticized the festival's growing commercial success for causing a decrease in musical quality. Many attribute this to Bhimsen Joshi's retirement after 2002. At the 59th festival in 2011, the performances of senior musicians like Amjad Ali Khan and Prabha Atre were interrupted due to time restrictions, angering audiences. Many have also criticised the ASPM for inviting fewer musicians of less popularity to perform. The ASPM has also been criticised for not publicly releasing vintage recordings of past festival performances.

Renaming

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.[8]

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 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 musician performing first, in the early morning. During the first two days, programs begin in the late-afternoon and are supposed to officially end by 10 pm. On the third and final day (previously a Saturday, now usually a Sunday), the programme is conducted in two sessions, the first beginning in the early morning continuing until the early afternoon, the second session begins in the early evening and ends at 10 p.m.

Finale performances

Tradition was that the finale performance was presented by Bhimsen Joshi. Since his retirement, other members of the Kirana Gharana took on the role, including 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 in Raag Bhairavi recording "Jamuna Ke Teer" by Sawai Gandharva, a tune made famous by and signature of his guru, Abdul Karim Khan.

List of festivals and performances

The Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal takes the task of recording details of the festival each year. The festival has been recorded in picture, video and audio, some of which is commercially available. Festivals are listed counter-chronologically.

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Accompanists

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav renamed – Mumbai – DNA". Dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  2. ↑ "Still magical". The Hindu. 31 October 2002. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  3. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva music fest to start from Dec 11 – The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Times News Network. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  4. ↑ "This year on, Sawai will be Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav". Indian Express. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  5. ↑ "Sawai Mahotsav postponed - Sakal Times".
  6. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva festival postponed". The Times of India. 25 October 2009.
  7. ↑ Sawai Gandharva Festival to be held from January Indian Express.
  8. ↑ "Music fest renamed Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav". The Times of India. 19 November 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Deshpande, A. P. (2002), Swarayadnya: Sawai Gandharva Music Festival's Fifty Years, Rajhans Prakashan, pp. 78–79, ISBN 978-81-7434-242-3
  10. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1962 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  11. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1963 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  12. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1964 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  13. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1965 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  14. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1966 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  15. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1967 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  16. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1968 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  17. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav 1969 Lineup". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  18. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  19. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  20. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  21. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  22. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  23. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  24. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  25. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  26. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  27. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  28. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  29. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. 10 December 1981. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  30. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  31. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  32. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  33. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  34. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  35. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  36. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2010". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  37. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1989". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  38. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1990". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  39. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1991". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  40. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1992". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  41. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1993". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  42. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1994". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  43. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1995". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  44. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1996". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  45. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1996". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. 8 January 1998. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  46. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1998". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  47. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 1999". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  48. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2000". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  49. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2001–02". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  50. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2002". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. 26 December 2002. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  51. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2003". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  52. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2004". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  53. ↑ "Sawai Gandharva 2005". Sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  54. ↑ http://sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com/2006.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  55. ↑ http://sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com/2007.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  56. ↑ http://sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com/2008.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  57. ↑ http://sawaigandharvasangeetmahotsav.com/2010.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  58. ↑ "Sawai opening day holds music lovers spellbound". The Times of India. 10 December 2010.
  59. ↑ The Times of India http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MAH-PUN-sawai-gandharva-mahotsav-renamed-2575912.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  60. ↑ Athavale, Dileep (Dec 16, 2012,). "Sawai has something for connoisseurs & amateurs - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 August 2017. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  61. ↑ Rege, Omkar (16 December 2012). "Strings that stir the soul | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 9 August 2017.

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