Dhrupad Music Foundation (DMF) organized the 8th edition of the World Music and Yoga Day – 2025 celebration at Bhanja Kala Mandap, Bhubaneswar, with grandeur and spiritual depth. As part of the celebration, Padma Shri Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar was felicitated with the prestigious “Odisha Dhrupad Ratna Jyoti Award – 2025” for his lifelong dedication to preserving and promoting the ancient Dhrupad tradition as the 20th-generation torchbearer of the Dagar lineage.
The event was inaugurated with an auspicious lamp-lighting ceremony and a soulful Dhrupad vocal invocation, led by Prof. Dr. Bidhu Kalyan Mahanti (chief guest), Padma Shri Shyamamani Devi, Swami Sadananda Saraswati, Guru Vijayananda Nayak, and psychologist Dr. Shreya Pahwa.
A highlight of the program was the launch of DMF’s first magazine, titled “Deva Vani Dhrupad – Om Tvam: The Eternal Yogic Sound of India”. Guru Mukund Dev, Chairman of DMF, emphasized that this inaugural edition features insightful articles on Dhrupad by eminent scholars and artists from India and abroad and serves as a beacon for the deeper philosophy of the “Deva Vani Dhrupad” tradition.
The evening opened with a rare and contemplative presentation titled “Dhrupad Dharana”, featuring meditative guidance by Anju Taparia (a noted yoga teacher from Maharashtra), Dhrupad vocal performance by Shreyanshi Pahwa (a student of Guru Mukund Dev from Punjab), and pakhawaj accompaniment by Mithun Chakraborty from Kolkata.
Guru Mukund Dev’s own Dhrupad composition, “Bund Bund Baras Megh”, in the monsoon raga Megh, rendered in the Deva Vani style, left the audience spellbound and emotionally stirred.
The concluding performance by Padma Shri Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar was a masterful exposition of Raga Yaman, with a deeply emotive Shiva Stuti. His exquisite aalaap and meditative voice held the audience in rapt attention, creating an atmosphere of spiritual absorption. In his address, Ustad Dagar remarked that the spread of Dhrupad in Odisha is a historic journey, and he expressed his joy to witness its growing appreciation here.
The award ceremony also honoured emerging young talents. Winners of “Odisha Classical Music Talent Search – 2025” were felicitated by the guests, along with recipients of: Little Odissi Singer Award – 2025, Little Khayal Singer Award – 2025, Little Dhrupad Singer Award – 2025
(awarded to Prushti, Tapan Kumar, and Manish Panda, respectively)
Shreyanshi Pahwa received the Deva Vani Dhrupad Aradhana Award – 2025 for her dedicated practice and performance in the tradition.
The World Music & Yoga Day celebrations, organized annually by DMF, are becoming a unique cultural awakening in Odisha’s classical music history. Guru Mukund Dev continues his mission of sowing the seeds of Dhrupad in Odisha, with plans to take this spiritual music tradition to global audiences.
