Opinion ‘Bhajan clubbing’ is here. Is it a cultural shift?

In his first “Mann ki Baat” of the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the trend of bhajan clubbing. It is the name given to a new wave of spiritual expression, where bhajans are being reimagined in a contemporary, club-style format — in the PM’s words, it is about “spirituality and modernity merging beautifully”.

Every generation interprets culture in ways that it can recognise and respond to. Bhajan clubbing is a modern twist to the call-and-response format, engineered for maximum crowd participation, especially from the young and the restless. In a world measuring its life by the gloss of social media, one that is roiled by political turbulence, bhajan clubbing appears like a tether, a way to connect with oneself, an attempt to reach one’s roots. Sold-out shows by international kirtan artists such as Krishna Das and Radhika Das and the proliferation of bhajan-clubbing concerts across the country seem to attest to the fact that it has struck a chord with India’s young.

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For an older generation, bhajan clubbing is a throwback to the global counterculture movement of the Sixties that looked to the religious and cultural traditions of the East — yoga, meditation, classical music — for inspiration. The Beatles’ famous retreat to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh in 1968 to come to terms with their dizzying fame and find their way to inner peace was a turning point in their careers. It marked a shift in their music — captured most effectively in their White Album — and in how they thought of fame, nature, spirituality and creativity. Can bhajan clubbing, too, motivate something similar? A re-engagement with traditions beyond the spectacle, a moment of cultural shift once the novelty wears off? That remains to be seen.