By October, we are all excited and wide-eyed about the music festivals that come around — from the Bacardi NH7 Weekender to more. But only the experienced, well-travelled festival-goer and ardent singer-along of indie bands’ tunes knows that it is wise to keep enough savings aside to last you up until February. While there is already more to look forward to in March — with the arrival of globe-trotting electronic music producers Major Lazer with their Mad Decent Block Party — about five big, multi-day music festivals will take place across the country in the first two weeks of February. Whether you want to venture distances great or little, or listen to more international artistes, here’s what’s on offer.
Aswekeepsearching
Into The Void
Rann of Kutch
February 10 to 12
How does it happen that the very first edition of a music festival ends up having free entry? We’re curious to see just how Into The Void festival, a three-day retreat at the striking Rann of Kutch terrains, will fare, especially on a busy weekend like this one. Hosting everyone from Bengaluru rock veterans Thermal and a Quarter to Motherjane from Kochi and Junkyard Groove from Chennai, Into The Void has a lot in store in terms of the best in independent music.
For Ahmedabad band Aswekeepsearching, it’s a homecoming of sorts. Guitarist and ardent promoter of the local scene, Uddipan Sarmah, says, “It’s the first edition and we’re really excited about it, so excited that we’ll play a couple of songs from our next album Zia for the first time. We’re looking forward to the white desert.” He adds, “Gujarat is changing in many ways... I’m looking forward to 2017.”
divine
Control ALT Delete
Roaring Farms, Mumbai
February 11 and 12
They’re raising Rs. 5 lakh, setting up a two-day, 32-artiste line-up across five stages, and all this with no corporate sponsors or investors. It’s a big dream for Mumbai’s long-running crowd-funded gig series Control ALT Delete (CAD), which was usually a day-long affair held indoors.
Co-creator Himanshu Vaswani says, “The whole point of CAD was to establish a functioning business model, proving that money is not the only important resource. We aim to wrap up all the costs for the entire event in Rs. 7 to 8 lakh. That, I believe, is our biggest challenge.”
“We made our own website, gathered 50 volunteers, sold stalls and worked out the logistics of the entire event, to work within our budget without compromising on the experience. That’s what CAD is about anyway — experiences and memories.”
In its 10th edition, the show will stick to its promise of featuring bands who have never played on their billing before, including rap star Divine, experimental rock band The Circus, extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection and newer artistes such as Gumbal, Lawntuba and Kalab.
Sula Fest
SulaFest
Sula Vineyards, Nashik
Till February 5
It’s more than just about getting tanked up on wine and cheering whatever’s on, because Sula Vineyards has also become a gathering place for anyone who loves electronica, indie and reggae, over the last 10 years. In its 10th edition, the organisers added an extra third day, giving enough room for the opening day to be dedicated to Indian artistes and have roped in some solid headliners. British indie dance rockers Bloc Party make their India debut at the vineyards’ amphitheatre this weekend, while Israeli electronica act Infected Mushroom returns to India with their energetic brand of rock. And if you’d rather have something to chill out, there’s the enchanting Afro Celt Sound System.
Artiste curator Jehan Johar from Ra Music says, “It’s a very creative process when deciding the artistes for the line-up, because we always have such a wide range of musical genres and nationalities.”
In all, there are 120 artistes heading to Nashik. Cecilia Oldne, Global Brand Ambassador and vice-president, Marketing, Sula Vineyards, says, “We will be offering 20-plus different music genres, ranging from world fusion, techno, percussion, electro-swing, to house, garage, afro, bass and reggae to mention a few. We will have one more music stage this year, the ‘Tropical Stage’ in addition to the ‘Amphitheatre Stage’ and ‘Atmasphere Stage’.”
Blackstratblues Bacardi NH7
Mahindra Blues Festival
Mehboob Studios, Mumbai
February 11 and 12
The seventh edition of the country’s biggest gathering of blues addicts offers something for the loyalists and close followers this time around. ZZ Top’s guitarist Billy Gibbons and Eric Gales will perform together as the Supersonic Blues Machine, while prodigious bluesman Quinn Sullivan will make his return to the country, and other headliners include Shemekia Copeland and Janiva Magness.
Repping the Indian side of the genre is festival regular Blackstratblues aka Warren Mendonsa. He says they’ll be playing with special guest Gino Banks on drums. The guitarist adds, “This is our fourth time at the festival, and we are really pleased that they find us representative enough to be featured among some stellar talent that is usually on the bill every year. I remember being all grins watching Matt Schofield perform in 2011, and it was pretty surreal to be asked to play the very next year. Sharing the stage with Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II in 2014 was definitely one of the highlights of the band’s career, and we were even more amazed to spot them in the audience while we played!”
supersonic
Vh1 Supersonic
Laxmi Lawns, Pune
February 10 to 12
The country’s biggest and most formidable competitor in the electronic music space has now become one of the must-attend events of the year, and this, even though they’ve moved out of Goa due to government restrictions and set up in Pune.
With electronic music producer Eric Prydz and hip hop hitmaker Macklemore already announced as headliners, curator and co-creator Nikhil Chinapa says the festival was never intended to be just for dance music fans. “The intention was very clear that Supersonic was a festival that meant different things for different people, and that was always the vision. To include many different art forms — film, food, the spoken word, visual arts. It’s never going to be just about music.”
About the festival’s move from Goa — which has always been synonymous with electronic music — Chinapa says Goa will still be part of their plans. He says, “It’s not like we’ll never go back to Goa; it’s just a question of how, where, when.”
