Royal Musical Evening: Top Dignitaries Attend Sufi Concert at Chowmahalla

Hyderabad: A full darbar at the Chowmahalla Palace on Saturday evening listened to ghazals and Sufi music as they are meant to be heard —seated, unhurried and attentive, in a space of history and memory. Vocalist Anita Singhvi sang to a packed audience in the backdrop of the palace chandeliers, along with the esraj, tabla and harmonium.

Present were Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and Jupally Krishna Rao

“This government believes that art and culture are an essential part of civilisation, and encouraging them is part of governance,” said Telangana Sangeeta Nataka Akademi chairperson Prof. Dr Alekhya Punjala, speaking at the start of the evening.

Dr Punjala said the arrangements were made under the guidance of Uttam Kumar Reddy. Speaking about Hyderabad, she said the city had long allowed different faiths and traditions to coexist without friction, and that its audiences respond to varied art forms with the same ease.

“Hyderabad listeners engage with Bharatanatyam and classical dance as readily as they do with ghazals and Sufi music. That openness has sustained the city’s cultural life,” she added.

The music stayed restrained through most of the evening. The esraj moved in and out and the harmonium stayed low. One line from a ghazal, “dil toh rota rahe aur aankh se aansoo na bahein,” lingered in the space.

Like most performances in this ancient palace, Chowmahalla did not sit apart from the performance. It shared the moment, the scale, the stillness and defined how the music was received.Singhvi, familiar to Hyderabad audiences, sang from her Sufi repertoire and closed with “Mast Qalandar.”

The programme formed part of the Telangana Sangeeta Nataka Akademi’s calendar and played out before a full house in the Old City, where music and history continue to coexist.