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Of Ghalib, kalams and ghazals

Delhi’s favorite poet ‘Ghalib’ still speaks to its citizens in this tongue and some of this city’s most cherished cultural traits are defined by it. Urdu, the language of the lovers and the word of poets keeps Delhi connected to its glorious past.

The city gets a chance to revisit its love for the Urdu virasat,  Delhi Government’s Department of Art, Culture & Languages in conjugation with the Urdu Academy are giving us the Urdu Heritage Festival that will lighten up the Red Fort grounds this week.This September sees the historical Lal Qila will come to alive with a series of exhibitions, recitals and programmes highlighting the rich cultural heritage spawned by Urdu in the city.

The festival will be replete with cultural events, book exhibition, calligraphic displays, sufiana kalams and ghazal renditions that will bring together the lovers of Urdu.  The five-day festival also features an all india Mushaira that will bring together some of the most popular Urdu poets of the country and evenings full of melodious ghazals by singers of the like of Bhupinder and Mitali, Zila Khan, Aslam Sabri, Anita Singhvi.

Another very interesting feature of the festival will be a play on the life and times of Ghalib. The play will see renowned actor Tom Alter essay the eponymous role of the legendary poet.  The dying form of Urdu Poetry Chaar Bait will also be presented in its traditional form.The festival will feature Qawwali performances by Aslam Sabri and Nasir Sabri, Ghazal recitals by Bhupinder and Mitali, Anwar Hussain, Zila Khan and Anita Singhvi. The last day of the festival will showcase a special tribute to Malka-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar, in the form of Daastan Goi by Vidya Shah and Danish Hussain.
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