New Delhi : The tradition of ‘mushaira’ and the beautiful art of listening and reciting returned to the Red Fort as Urdu poets from several cities of India came together for an evening of poetic renditions at the Urdu Heritage Festival .

The highlight of the day was Anita Singhvi ‘mushaira’ that attracted the lovers of the poetic tradition from across the capital to the Red Fort — what was once the centre of such poetic gatherings during the Mughal era.

Presented by the Department of Art, Culture & Languages, the Urdu Heritage Festival, 2013 has attracted much attention and audience and the fourth day of the festival was no less an aberration. The festival has been thronged over by the masses of Delhi who have cherished every moment of it.

Some of the country’s most loved Urdu poets of the day including the likes of Waseem Bareilvi, Ahmar Jalesri, Kaleem Qaiser, Qasim Imam, Rahi Bastavi, Agha Sarosh, Naeem Rashid, Shakeel Azmi, Tabish Mehdi and Rehana Shaheen were among the participants.

The audience clung to every word spoken and every couplet was cherished and applauded as the poets recited their compositions amid loud cheers from a discerning audience.

Tomorrow, on the last day of the festival a special tribute to Malka-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar will be showcased in the form of Daastan Goi by Vidya Shah (singer) and Danish Hussain (narrator).

The festival, replete with cultural events, food delights, book exhibitions, calligraphic displays, sufiana kalams and ghazal renditions has attracted a foliwng stream of audience. Besides daily performances delivered by veteran artists, the evenings have also given a platform to the capital’s youth to display their talents in the art forms of ghazal and qawwali.

“Mushairas never fail to attract people and when we organize a festival to celebrate Urdu, how can we not have a mushaira? The response to the festival has been wonderful. Who says Urdu is a language whose time has passed? Everything about it still attracts people and this festival is a testimony to that. When you talk about Delhi the culture spun around this beautiful language are spoken of in the same breath. Urdu is a representative of Delhi as much as is the Red Fort,” says Mr Anis Azmi, Secretary, Urdu Academy.