This is the largest and the oldest celebration held annually. The history of the Tansen Festival, dating back more than ninety years, shows that earlier this used to be the most significant music festival of the princely state of Gwalior. Earlier, it was a local / regional event but B.V. Keskar, former Union Minister, put in concerted effort in 1983 to popularize the event across India. As a result, it used to be organized by the Madhya Pradesh Government through its Department of Public Information and now in continuation, it is being organized jointly by Ustad Alauddin Khan Kala Evam Sangeet Academy and Department Of Culture, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh. The great and well-known music maestros and music- lovers of the country and abroad participate in the event to offer their musical tribute to the all time great music Maestro Tansen. Since it is the only one and the oldest day- night music festival, the Academy honours the senior celebrities and junior artistes of the music on this occasion by including them in the event through their music of performance. At the end of the music festival, Madhya Pradesh culture department gives prestigious Tansen Samman to the budding & promising musicians.
Tansen School of Music: During the most glorious period of the Mughal kingdom, the musical culture of North India rose to the Zenith. Tansen, the greatest disciple of the saint and musical seer, Swami Haridas of Vrindavan, was the central figure around whom a renaissance of Hindustani music took place. The new features added during this period were simply astounding, for in the teaching of Tansen could be found the key that incorporated the musical arts of India and the Middle East through a rhythmic pattern that was, however, India's own creation. In past, spirit of this synthesis had incorporated Greek and Arabian melody types into the Indian scheme. The creation of such a scheme was a triumph for the musical genius of India. This was the ancient spiritual ideal of India of creating unity.
Here is an outline of achievement by Tansen of which little is known, till now to the world at large. This school is based on the inspiration of Indian Rishis. The descendants of Tansen, later patronized by the princely states of Rampur and Jaipur, established the Tansen School of Music.
The tradition of Tansen brings us in close touch with the legendary origin of the Indian music as rich as well as the historical accounts given by Sarangadev. The theories of Tansen accept the view of the Sangit Ratnakar (संगीत रत्नाकर) that Brahma created the Marga style of music out of the contents of the Samaveda (सामवेद) which used to call the learning of music as the Naadvidya (नादविद्या), the embodiment of the eternal spirit. Lord Mahadev (Shiva) was the original teacher of this Vidya (विद्या – discipline / erudition) and Parvati and Sarasvati received this divine knowledge from him for the first time. The mention of Lord Ganesh, Sage Narad and Hanuman comes next. The celestial beings of the heaven including the minor deities, Ghandharvas (गंधर्व), Kinnaras (किन्नर) and the celestial nymphs also learned this divine music from Narad and Hanuman. In the teachings of Tansen, we find accounts of the Puranic personalities like Ravan, Valmiki, Lava, Kusha, Hanuman, Arjuna and others. Then there are references of Bharat, Matanga, Sarangdev and Kallinath. Tansen based his theories of music on the characteristics of the six main Ragas namely Bhairav, Malkosh, Hindol, Shree, Megh, Dipak and their Raginis and the Raga Putras.
Tansen was acclaimed by Akbar as the greatest musician of India after the age of Bharat. We find evidence to this in the work of Abul Fazal. The descendants of Tansen expressed the view that the musical teachings of Tansen, especially those on the structure of the ‘ragas’, have been carried down through lines of the Gurus and disciples. Tansen himself was a disciple of Baba Ramdas of Awadh and Swami Haridas Ji of Vrindavan, both of whom regarded Lord Shiva as the creator and Hanuman as the propagator of ‘ragas’ and ‘raginis’.