This month brings Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Diwali is India’s biggest festival, celebrated all over the country with prayers, sweets and fireworks. Sadly the music element is noticeably absent during Diwali, though music is an integral part of any celebration. At least not on the scale of Navratri or even Ganpati. You don’t see too many music events specific to Diwali, whereas the festival offers considerable opportunity for people in the music business to tap into. Because it is a country wide festival, much more so than Navratri, Ganpati, Onam or Baisakhi, Diwali has great potential to become a national festival of lights and MUSIC. Another thing that comes to mind is that there are very few Diwali songs unlike say Christmas. The Christian festival has generated umpteen Christmas songs and over the years many new songs have got added to the list. It appears that music is more associated with some festivals and less with others probably due to tradition. Maybe this can change given the universal appeal of music.
The Jodhpur RIFF international folk festival also takes place this month, celebrating the legendary folk artist of Rajasthan. The festival has been attracting a lot of interest and each year has seen it growing in scale and scope. This year they are taking the also taking the festival into the city with a free concert in the heart of Jodhpur. More such festivals with international artists collaborating with traditional Indian artists can put India on the global music festival map and considering our musical diversity, it could make India an incomparable music destination.
This month also witnessed the death of Apple CEO, Steve Jobs who turned Apple into one of the biggest technology companies in the world. If not for anything else music lovers the world over will remember him for the iPod, iTunes and iPhone. His contribution in changing the mindset of netizens and making legal online music downloads acceptable cannot be forgotten. The tech world many never see another like him.
This month also saw the extinguishing of one of the brightest lights of the Indian music scene. Ghazal king, Shri Jagjit Singh is no more. He was to perform a concert with Ghulam Ali at the Shanmukhananda Hall but a day or two before that he was admitted to the ICU at Lilavati Hospital following a brain hemorrhage. He and his wife Chitra became India’s first ghazal duo but Chitra stopped performing following the death of their only son in a car accident. Jagjit Singh is credited with bringing ghazal to the mainstream will be remembered for his soul stirring ghazals that captivated audiences regardless of linguistic and cultural barriers.
May the departed souls rest in eternal peace.
- Savio D'Souza