The first ever Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) held in December in New Delhi was an amazing kaleidoscope of arts. It was an attempt to establish India as a global soft power in keeping with its rising economic strength. A multi-art, multi-venue festival, DIAF featured almost 900 artistes spread over 16 days in 35 venues.

Based on the model of public private partnership, DIAF was held in collaboration with the Delhi Govt, Union Ministries of Tourism and Culture, Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The event was sponsored by Sangeeta Nataka Academy,  Indian Council for Cultural Relations, ITDC and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

“The DIAF is an attempt to establish Delhi as the new arts capital of the world,” says Prathibha Prahlad, the festival director and the principal promoter of DIAF.  It was truly a unique treat for the art loving public.

DIAF created a vortex of cultural energy, the effect of which will remain in the hearts and minds of people for a long time to come. The model was unprecedented. It had something for everyone’s palate.

From classical music and dance to western music, poetry evening, kavi sammelan and mushaira, visual arts, young authors in discussion, folk dance, short film festival, academic session in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), sufi night, ghazal night , theatre , youth festival…..the list was endless.

The outreach events, a separate segment created to take art out of the Mandi House Mile was another special feature of the DIAF.

Taking a percussion ensemble to Tihar Jail was another milestone. When Tanjavur Keshavan’s drum beats rose to a crescendo, the jail inmates clapped and danced with glee. For them it was a release of pent up emotions and freedom from isolation.

“We want to show to the world the healing power of art. Art only transforms and shows one a better way of life,” said Arshiya Sethi, executive director, DIAF, while introducing the artistes to the inmates and the jailers in Tihar.

A hard core solo classical dance festival at Mahout under the majestic peepal tree was a perfect setting. Famous dancers Raja & Radha Reddy, Madhavi Mudgal, Sujata Mohapatra, Vanasri & Jayaram Rao, Singhjit Singh, Sadanam Balakrishnan, Bharati Shivaji, Uma Sharma and many others showcased their talents over seven days to houseful audiences.

Three beautiful winter mornings saw the unfolding of a classical music festival on the lawns of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Gursharan Kaur, wife of the Prime Minister who inaugurated by playing the ‘Eka Tara’ said, “I have never seen the IGNCA lawns throb with music like this before.” Madurai Seshagopalan, R K Srikantan, Kadri Gopalnath, Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan of Dilli Gharana, Shujat Hussain Khan, Rajendra Prasanna, Kumaresh and Jayanti were some of the musicians who delighted the audiences with their exquisite recitals.

A ‘Youth Festival’, held at Hotel Ashok was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Youth Affairs, Mani Shankar Aiyer.

The beautiful Baha'i House of Worship was the venue for the western music choir conducted by Gabriella of Italy.

The Cathedral Church of the Redemption, near Rashtrapati Bhavan was another unusual venue that housed the famous western music choir  – Capital City Minstrels.

Saptavarna - seven poets, seven languages was as intriguing as interesting. From Aligarh came Sharyar, the famous Urdu poet. Other well known names were K Satchidanandan (Malayalam), J P Das (Oriya), Satinder Singh (Punjabi) and Ashok Vajpayi.

Nafisa Ali, who was the chief guest at the ‘Young Authors’ event at Habitat Centre, commented that she had never heard of a festival that was so inclusive and cerebral. Three young authors released their books and interfaced with audience.

The Vice- President of India, who inaugurated the kavi sammelan and mushaira at the India Islamic Centre spoke of how much there was to savour in the arts. A packed auditorium listened with rapt attention to the Shayars Neeraj, Uday Pratap Singh, Masoom Ghaziabadi and others.

A unique festival of short films on art and artists was shown to a discerning public at the Alliance Française. The International festival also saw a variety of music and dance from Slovakia, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka at the Kamani auditorium.

The Sufi Night and the Ghazal Night were the biggest events of the festival and drew unprecedented crowds.

Warsi brothers from Hyderabad, Wadali brothers from Amritsar and Parvati Baul of Kolkata left the audience hungry for more.

Chandni Chowk, the cultural cauldron of the North was the unique setting for the Ghazal night. Every care had been taken by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi at the behest of the organisers to beautify the gardens virtually into an ‘Indralok’.

The DIAF committee announced that  next year, the festival will be held from the November 1-18.