Let me take you down, Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields,
Nothing is real, And nothing to get hung about,Strawberry Fields forever
… croons John Lennon in one of The Beatles’ most memorable composition. And just like the legendary song, music lovers in the city took back fond memories from the annual music festival of the National Law School of India University with the same name, powered by The Hindu.
In its 19th edition, Strawberry Fields, easily the largest and most well-appreciated music festival and competition in the country, saw 40 bands battle it out for a cash prize, winning the audience’s hearts and a stellar life-changing music career ahead. The fest, organised by the student body, is known to be the undisputable launch pad for some of the country’s finest, including Thermal And A Quarter, Moksha, Motherjane, Zero and several more. Started in 1997 by the students under the leadership of Rahul Cherian, who passed away in 2013 following which, the prize is named the Rahul Cherian Prize, Strawberry Fields is hailed as the biggest college rock festival in India.
Spread over three days from January 15 to 17, Strawberry Fields took place in the sprawling grass lawn of the NLS campus, with a carnival atmosphere. The packed audience also witnessed epic headlining special acts by Kerala rock band Rocazaurus, Darjeeling metal band Confuzone, Mumbai alternative rock band Daira, progressive Carnatic rock band Family Cheese, also from Mumbai, Chennai garage rock band Skrat and Bengaluru’s own stoner-doom-metal band Bevar Sea.
Tapass Naresh, Skrat’s drummer, sums up the experience for all the special acts. “It’s awesome to be in Strawberry Fields. It was one of our all-time dreams to come here. We never used to get time to compete back then since we were in engineering colleges and our exams used to clash with the fest. I love this place. I’ve heard a lot about it and it has lived up to my expectations. The crowd is growing as we speak. But of course, I’ve heard it used to be a lot bigger and crazier in its earlier years.” He adds that it’s great to see the big grass venue with people chilling all over, playing frisbee, headbanging to good music and having a great time. “It’s the perfect festival spirit.”
The final day saw the top five finalists Aathma, Pineapple Express India, Project MirshraM, The Hans Raj Projekt, and Vidyut battle it out one last time to win the hearts of the gathering of music lovers before the results were announced.
Six-piece band Aathma, who took the glory home winning the Rahul Cherian Prize, had the audience in awe with their stellar combination of stage presence, peppy grooves and riffs in a genre they call ‘fun rock’. Vocalist Vyshak Varma from the band says the experience was awesome. “We’ve been keeping track of the fest for the last 10 years and even playing at Strawberry Fields is a dream-come-true for us. To win here is a moment we have been anticipating since Anto Philip and I started Aathma four years ago.” He points out that a lot of bands like TAAQ and Motherjane inspired them. “We grew up looking up to these bands launching off here and tried to emulate them. It was a big honour for us to play on the same stage and winning it was the icing on the cake! We had tough competition from the other finalists who were all extremely good.”
Vyshak adds: “Strawberry Fields has been the biggest breakthrough for all the big bands out there and I believe it’s going to do the same for us.” The runners-up were The Hans Raj Projekt. And the Winner of the Inaugural Suraj Dutt Memorial Award for Best Guitarist was Arun Roy from Vidyut.
Nikita Devanshi, a regular at Strawberry Fields says she’s seen the festival bring some of the legends in the music scene to the forefront. “I found most of the musicians I listen to now on my playlist, here at the festival. It’s a great venue that brings talent from across the country onto one platform. And I’m really happy to see history being made on the stage.”
