Its spring here again. Basant or Vasantotsav, the festival of spring in much of south Asia, is a special occasion for the sufis and qawwals at the dargah (mausoleum) of Hazrat Nizamuddin and Amir Khusro, at New Delhi. For more than seven hundred years, both Hindus and Muslims have been celebrating here this festival of flowers, music and dance. To celebrate Basant this year, a daylong session of events has been organized in and around the area of Dargah Nizamuddin on 17th February 2002, Sunday, by the Communicators’ Cooperative, a group of media and arts professionals. You are cordially invited for this festival where some of the following and many more events are going to take place:
A guided Heritage Walk in and around the Dargah Nizamuddin area, which houses the tombs of such legendary figures as Nizamuddin Aulia, Amir Khusro, Mirza Ghalib and Abdur Rahim Khanekhana (starts at 10:30 am, and continues daylong)
An exhibition of rare books, music records, and other memorabilia associated with Basant, Amir Khusro and Hindu-Muslim composite culture. (Daylong)
Screening of documentary films on Basant and Amir Khusro, produced by Iffat Fatima, Yousuf Saeed and Ajai Chawla (2:00 pm)
Traditional Basant festival and procession by qawwals and sufis in the main Dargah area (4:30 pm)
Mehfil-e-Sama (sufi music concert) in which noted classical vocalist Ustad Iqbal Ahmad Khan of Dilli gharana, and others are going to present a lecture-demonstration of the music of Basant (6:30 pm)
You are welcome to spend the entire day at the Dargah area for the above programmes as well as for other smaller events. Traditionally, the Basant celebration is characterized by wearing of Basanti dress, which basically means clothes dyed in the colour of mustard or sarson. It would be nice if you could come wearing dresses dyed in that or similar hues. In any case the organizers have arranged for Basanti scarves that can be obtained at the location and worn. Traditional qawwals too distribute such scarves inside the Dargah. There would be a reception-counter at the entrance to the Dargah area, besides volunteers to guide you.
For further details and updates on the schedule of events, kindly visit our website, or contact us at
basant@cc-india.org or call Vagish at 9810216943 Communicators’ Cooperative Ltd.
http://www.cc-india.org Please remember: February 17th 2002, Sunday
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