Jodhpur, Feb 19, 2017: The World Sacred Spirit Festival 2017 concluded today in the city. For the past 10 years, the prestigious sites of the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur open their doors to an extraordinary sacred and historical musical journey. Known to present the most beautiful of sacred traditions from the Orient, the East and Africa, WSSF has taken a step further in enchanting its guests with an impressive line-up of artists in a stunning royal setting.
The three-day festival, that started on Friday, focuses on artistes from across the world - from the traditional chakri dances to the Baul poetry to the epic chants of Mongolia, from Persian poetry to the ancient songs of the West, from the metallic notes of the sarod to the deep sounds of the surbahar, we are ready to live through the journey of temporality. With the venue being the majestic Meherangarh Fort, the World Sacred Spirit Festival is presented by the Meherangarh Museum Trust.
“The festival started as a celebration to mark the UNESCO World Heritage Award for conservation at the Ahhichatragarh Fort of Nagaur. It is rewarding and satisfying that this will be 10th edition of the festival. The festival which aims solely at conservation and continuation of Sufi/Sacred traditions of India and the World has been a successful and "soulful" experience for national and international audiences. The festival is a pioneering effort in Cultural Conservation and Music Tourism in India. The festival has been carefully curated by my daughter Princess Shivranjani Rajye, our festival Director Alain Weber and Alexandra De Cadaval and Mehrangarh Museum Trust Director Kr Karni Singh Jasol for a decade now. The most satisfying experience is that the festival has inspired many new and diverse music festivals across India; it has manifested itself as a guiding light and thereby enabling larger cultural conservation of our dying sacred arts and music traditions.”
- His Highness Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Marwar-Jodhpur
“We are spirits in a material world. At the World Sacred Spirit Festival, one is able to experience the magic of Sufism/ Music.”
•Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner)
Festival Patron – World Sacred Spirit Festival
The highlights of the World Sacred Spirit Festival 2017 were:
•Ustad Irshad Khan on surbahar and sitar in the backdrop of the lake by the Jaswant Thada
•Parvathy Baul- Mystical Dance And Poetry To The Stars from the Baul tradition
•Issa Murad, Rishab Prasanna, Zuheb Ahmad Khan from Palestine
•Prem Joshua Band - songs around beloved, traditional Indian mantras and shlokas (a type of couplet verse, and the basis of such ancient Indian poetry as the The Mahabharata and Ramayana epics)
•Lingling Yu from China – The Art of Pipa - A real and new inspiration played on the classical chinese lute, the pipa
•Sahar Mohammadi from Iran – The art of Persian poetry and classical Iranian music from the desert
About Mehrangarh Museum Trust:
Mehrangarh Museum Trust is India's leading cultural institution and centre of excellence, established in 1972 by the 36th Custodian of Marwar- Jodhpur; H. H. Maharaja Gaj Singh II, who brought the fort alive to visitors.
Today Mehrangarh Museum has a unique importance as a repository of the artistic and cultural history of the large areas of Central Rajasthan and Marwar-Jodhpur, ruled by the Rathore Dynasty. Apart from the Museum, the Trust is at the forefront of conservation and restoration, a generous patron of the arts and music and a lively centre of academic study.
The Mehrangarh Museum Trust’s commitment and perseverance towards the conservation and rehabilitation of the Fort sets a unique example in the field of Historic rehabilitation. Mehrangarh Museum Trust is a recipient of the UNESCO ASIA-PACIFIC Award in the field of architectural conservation, cultural heritage and adaptive reuse, Award of Distinction by UNESCO in 2005, Fassa Bortolo Italy in 2011 and Hadrian Award in 2006 by World Monuments Fund. Ahichatragarh Fort, Nagaur managed by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust was recently shortlisted for the famous Aga Khan Award for Architecture.