Sacred Amritsar festival kicks off with Dastangoi

Amritsar, March 25

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Dastangoi, an ancient art of storytelling, finds its origins somewhere in the eighth century. Dastangos or storytellers would perform in courts or for elites. According to Askari Naqvi, a dastangoi performer, Mughal emperor Akbar popularised dastangoi during his reign. “Akbar even commissioned an art project that made dastangoi popular among masses. Dastaans were performed at public places, like Jama Masjid. Urdu dastan began somewhere at that time. It contained two main elements earlier, razm (warfare), bazm (elegant gatherings, elaborate feasts, and revelry), and later on tilism (magic) and ayyari (trickery) got added as it evolved,” he shared, as he introduced the art form to a audience on the inaugural day of the first Sacred Amritsar Festival at The Earth.

Lawyer-turned-dastango Askari Naqvi, along with Valentina Trivedi, an educator and performer, presented ‘Dastan Miyan Azad Ki’, a popular nugget of different moods, from ‘Fasana-e-Azad’. Authored by Pandit Ratan Naath Sarshaar, this piece is considered a gem in Urdu literature. ‘Fasana-e-Azad’ was first published in a serialised manner from 1978 to 1979, it took shape of a book in 1980. It is a compilation of anecdotes of its central character — Miyan Azad — and is based on classical ragas, highlighting the different moods,” shared Valentina.

The entertaining and masterful performance kept the audience asking for more, while also introducing them to soz khwani, another ancient form of storytelling, mostly lament poetry that makes references to the tragedy of Karbala and is performed during the month of Muharram.

Before dastangoi, Kabir folk artistes, Shabnam Virmani and Swagath Sivakumar, gave a soulful performance of Kabir’s compositions and Meera Bhajan. Working on The Kabir Project, Shabnam made four documentaries before taking the tambura and turning an artist, singing folk songs of Kabir and amplifying the magic of Kabir’s verses. Folk instrumentalist and artist Sandeep Singh also gave a moving performance with taus, setting the stage for the inaugural day of Sacred Amritsar.