Bhubaneswar: Padma awardee Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar received Odisha Dhrupad Ratna Jyoti Award-2025 during the 8th edition of the World Music and Yoga Day celebration at Bhanja Kala Mandap in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
He was honoured with the award 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 lamp-lighting ceremony and a soulful Dhrupad vocal invocation, led by chief guest Dr Bidhu Kalyan Mahanti, Padma awardee Shyamamani Devi, Swami Sadananda Saraswati, Guru Vijayananda Nayak, and psychologist Dr Shreya Pahwa.
Dhrupad Music Foundation (DMF) also launched its first magazine, titled “Deva Vani Dhrupad – Om Tvam: The Eternal Yogic Sound of India”.
Guru Mukund Dev, Chairman of DMF, said 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 also saw 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 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 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.
Emerging young talents were also felicitated on the occasion. Little Odissi Singer Award-2025, Little Khayal Singer Award-2025, Little Dhrupad Singer Award-2025 were conferred on 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.
