GoMad Festival in Ooty: Madness, music and masti

The two-day GoMad Festival in Ooty promises to be a powerhouse show of live talent, with some big Bengaluru names

January 24, 2018 12:45 pm | Updated 06:34 pm IST

A cosy campfire under the starry sky, a fun camping experience, food trucks, flea markets and two nights of spectacular music – there’s nothing much that can beat the musical getaway that GoMad Festival offers. Scheduled for this weekend at the majestic Fernhills Royal Palace in Ooty, the mega multi-cultural music festival will bring together some of the most happening bands from across the country and the world.

 

The two-day festival, the third edition after a long break, showcases an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary performances crossing cultures and genres with 26 world class artistes including Jeremiah Ferrari (UK), Dhruv Visvanath, Aritmija (Slovenia-Indo Fusion), Suraj Mani and the Tattva trip, Peepal Tree, Tanya Nambiar and more. Hosted by UrbanOwl Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. at the erstwhile summer residence of the Maharaja of Mysore, the festival will also feature camping, food trucks, a food court, a bar in the woods, a play area for kids and a range of workshops.

 

Festival Director Sanjit George says they’re excited to be coming back after a long hiatus. “Compared to the previous editions in 2012 and 2013, what’s different this year is primarily the ushering of so many new bands and new experimental sounds. We’ve always tried to promote the younger talent rather than the big commercial names. This is a platform for them to showcase their sounds to the world.”

He elaborates that to add to the holistic festival vibe, “We’ve brought in some food trucks and amped the camping experience as well. There are also pop-up stages for people to explore between acts. And all of this is nestled inside the Fernhills Royal Palace. We’re keeping it as rustic as possible. The location has a lot of heritage, being a hotel palace for generations. It will take you back in time while surrounding you in nature, which goes hand-in-hand with music.”

Hence, George adds: “This is an opportunity for music lovers to take home the positivity of the festival, discover the new sounds from the country’s new talent and, maybe, find their new favourite bands.”

 

On what went into selecting this line-up, George says a lot of the artistes are self-made and doing well in the indie scene. “This festival acts as a leveller on the big bands. We have just 26 slots this year and we’ve ensured most genres, languages and styles are covered – that has been the key to this year’s programme.”

George shares his two-bits on the name of the festival: “MAD stands for Music, Art and Dance. Back in the day, we were called The MAD Festival. Now, we have GoMad as the brand name, but it remains a pure celebration of MAD. At its heart, this is a festival of celebration and people coming together.”

Sound options

Meanwhile, a multitude of Bengaluru bands perform at GoMad. From the strong combination of Lagori’s rock, funk, pop and Indian Classical, contemporary music act Peepal Tree and trippy rock poetry band Suraj Mani and the Tattva Trip to electro-pop and retro band Best Kept Secret, indie-folk-alternative showcase When Chai Met Toast and Indian folk, pop and rock blend Masala Coffee, the festival has almost the entire crux of Bengaluru’s best jumping onto the bandwagon. George sums up: “There are a lot of familiar names from Bengaluru since a lot of them have been part of our journey. Promoting live music in India is our shared goal and the festival has helped keep that going and resonated with us.”

Lagori

Geeth Vaz

This festival is dear to us. It has been one of the first few festivals we played – the vibe of the crowd and energy is awesome. Our performance will be energy packed and the crowd will definitely go home humming Lagori tunes. We also rope in guest artiste Jason Zachariah. The set includes a lot of new material and we’re specially curating a power-packed show for the festival.

Peepal Tree

Tony Das

We want people to have a good time with us! We really enjoy writing, and we go to great lengths to make sure that our music translates well to our stage shows. For those who may not have watched us perform, we're bringing you an amalgam of rock, pop, blues, disco, electronica, and a whole lot more, sung in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, and English – all woven together like you've never heard before! And, just as importantly, we're going to be bringing our A-game, as always.

Suraj Mani and the Tattva Trip

Suraj Mani

One of the things we get a lot from dedicated trippers is how our shows are uplifting and healing at the same time. If that happens, there's no happier man than me. Our show format is kind of unique. And the sound narrative is about a mythical traveller who draws audiences into a trip that re-frames their own journeys. That is what we will be bringing to the stage.

Best Kept Secret

Behram Siganporia

We've been working on our originals for a while and we hope those attending the festival will enjoy our own music. Many people have been following us for our renditions of cover songs but we’ve written a lot of new material and we hope that the audience at GoMad will enjoy our brand of music. We will be playing an all-original set with songs which haven’t been played before, including unreleased music. We’ll be bringing our usual high energy and we plan to surprise our audience leaving them wanting more.

When Chai Met Toast

Ashwin Gopakumar

The most important part of the performance is definitely the live experience we bring to the stage and in our performances we ideally want people to feel good and happy post the gig. Also, more than what we are bringing to the stage, we are bringing in interesting merchandise to the festival. So come over and dig in.

Masala Coffee

Sooraj Santosh

Besides our music, the one most important thing for our audience to takeaway is to leave in a mega happy state-of-mind. Hopefully we succeed in doing that. What we are bringing to the stage for this festival experience is years of hard work, passion, sweat, tears and inspiration that translates into our music.

Save the dates

* The GoMad Festival takes place on January 26 and 27 from 12 pm onwards

* Fernhills Royal Palace is located at Ferrnhills Post Nilgiris, West Mere, Ooty, Tamil Nadu

* Ooty Main Bus Stand is 2 kms and 10 minutes while Udhagamangalam Railway Station is 2.5 kms and 25 minutes from Fernhills Royal Palace. The nearest airport is Coimbatore at 86 kms

* Tickets available on www.gomadfestival.com, insider.in, BookMyShow and MeraEvents

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