‘Freedom Jam, No Bread! All are welcome’!
Beyond a merely appealing tag line, this has been the byword of the iconic Freedom Jam concerts that have liberated music from all mundane strings and united global performers and local talents in a selfless celebration of the cause of music.
The Freedom Jam music festival, an initiative by a group of music enthusiasts “to play, let play, listen, let listen n then play n listen some more; without restrictions, without commercial constraints...” returns to the city with a line-up of events on successive days, starting Republic Day on Thursday.
Over the years, Puducherry, apart from Bengaluru, Chennai and Goa, have hosted these free-spirited music festivals, which welcome “all styles n genres....from desi ethnic to avant garde experimental n everything in between — pop, folk, rock, electro, metal, hip hop, jazz or blues...”
‘For the love of music’
As per Freedom Jam norms, set two decades ago in then Bengaluru, artistes play for the love of music without any performance fees and the audience too enjoys the music without tickets, according to Siddhartha Patnaik, a musician and one of the key movers of the Freedom Jam events.
And, in this former French enclave which has a legacy of listenership that has appreciated eclectic genres and styles from across the world, the Freedom Jam music festival has become one of the city’s defining shows, sustained by a group of music aficionados.
Among the illustrious musicians who have performed in the editions of the near past are Manon Guerin, who fronted a band from Quebec in Canada with support acts from Mishko M’Ba from the Reunion Islands on bass guitar and Daniele Di Pentima from Italy on the drums, violin virtuoso L. Shankar, blues and folk rock exponent Eric Schaefer and troubadour Alan Rego.
The concerts for the 14th edition of Freedom Jam — Pondy Music Festival have been scheduled at Alliance Française Maison Colombani on Rue Dumas on Republic Day with a second show the following day at the Alliance Française indoor auditorium on Rue Suffren.
Both days the performances will start around 6 p.m.
According to organisers, the Republic Day performances at Maison Colombani will feature premier blues band, Ministry of Blues, retro rock n’ roll by H2O and classic rock hits from Frooti for Pappu, among other performers.
On Friday, the show will feature a jam session showcasing a variety of unique talent from the Auroville region.
Unlike in the past when the festival enjoyed patronage of the Department of Tourism, the 14th edition will run entirely on the enthusiasm, energy and resources of local musicians and music lovers. A silver lining has been that Alliance Française volunteered to host Freedom Jam, organisers said.
