The South Asian Bands Festival 2013 review (New Delhi)

SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), a  geopolitical union of eight member nations from  South Asia region include – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. The association aims to promote welfare economics & accelerate socio-cultural development in the region. Please read here for more info on SAARC.

The South Asian Bands Festival 2013 ad poster.

Event : The 7th South Asian Bands Festival 2013

Date: November 29^th to December 01^st 2013.

Time: 6.00 pm onwards

Venue: Purana Qilla, New Delhi (Near Delhi Zoo)

The South Asian Bands Festival 2013 is part of SAARC’s regional integration to help achieve SAARC’s objectives. The South Asian Bands Festival is held in Delhi, at Purana Qilla, every year on the onset of winters. This time it was the association’s seventh edition of the fest. The 7th South Asian Bands Festival 2013, this time, comprised fourteen popular rock bands from across nine nations that rocked the crowd in a 3 day long festival. Listed below are the bands that participated and performed day wise at the event.

 Day 1, November 29, 2013

* Barefaced Liar (New Delhi)

* LRB (Bangladesh)

* ZnG (Bhutan)

* Circus (New Delhi)

* Biuret (Korea)

Day 1 started with balloons aplenty, and before they could disappear into the vast blackness up above, Barefaced Liar from Delhi jumped right in grabbing every dazed soul's attention.  After playing some of their better known tracks, like the now famous To The Line, they called violinist Darshan Singh Sur to belt out some unconventional numbers.  The Liar was followed by popular Bangladeshi band LRB, followed by Bhutanese band ZnG, then Circus an alternate rock band from Dehi and the last band for the night was ‘Biuret’ a Korean rock band which was a complete surprise package and entertainer par excellence.

 Day 2, November 30, 2013

* Stigmata (Sri Lanka)

* Eman’s Conspiracy (Maldives)

* Papon And The East Indian Company (Mumbai)

* Strings (Pakistan)

Day 2 had four popular rock bands lined up, first up was ‘Stigmata’ from Sri Lanka styled in appearance and sound of progressive thrash & Death Metal with Hard Rock influences. ‘Eman’s Conspiracy’ from Maldives too sounded similar like ‘Stigmata’, both the bands had style and music and they sounded good and tight. An anchor was present on stage and he kept interacting with the crowd to let them know who’s up next and to check their pulse of likes and dislikes, on one interaction with the crowd, the anchor confirmed that ‘Stings’ from Pakistan were lined up for the night to which a crowd of over 5,000 cheered and hooted as a sign of warm welcome and love. The anchor further teased the rocking crowd before they witnessed ‘Strings’, “next up is Papon And The East Indian Company” the crowd at the name of ‘Papon’ went wild, “how many Papon fans in the house tonight?” asked the anchor, a quick loud hoot came in response with every single hand fluttering high in the air to acknowledge the inquiry.

Papon consistently rocked the stage with Assamese numbers like ‘Pak pak’, ‘Tokari’ etc and bollywood numbers like ‘Kyon’, ‘Banao Banao’ etc. Papon & his band received an incredible crowd response. ‘Strings’ too did not lose out any opportunity to uplift the moods of the already enthralled crowd. ‘Strings’ with their pop rock numbers perfectly ended the second day of the event.

Day 3, December 1, 2013

* What’s In The Name (Mumbai)

* Pardis (Afghanistan)

* Susmit Sen Chronicles (New Delhi)

* Albatross (Nepal)

* The Raghu Dixit Project (Bengaluru)

Due to some reason, Day 3, I could not witness the event, however, I am entirely sure that Day 3 must had been a kick ass gig. From ‘What’s In The Name’ (winners of many inter-college and national level band competitions) to ‘Susmit Sen Chronicles’(founder member and lead guitarist of Indian Ocean fame) to ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ (coke studio fame) must have ripped the Delhi crowd apart.

I will be more than happy to put an article if somebody could help me with the review of Day 3 schedule, for the love of music.

On the other hand NH7 weekender must have faced a competition with other Gigs and festivals that took place around Delhi-NCR and were for FREE. Apart from the SAARC fest, there was another FREE entry gig on Sun Dec 01^st ’13 near India Gate lawn, event name “Voice of vote concert 2013” with line up bands like - Euphoria, Parikrama, Mrigya and other 17 rock bands. Music aficionados had a better deal attending FREE gigs against NH 7. I was one of them :-). Watch out NH 7!!

North East Festival 2013 in New Delhi review

The much awaited two day carnival “North East Festival 2013” finally showcased the regions authentic food, musical talents, ethnic dances, hand-looms, handicrafts etc., with flying colors.

Mr S.K Mahanta (Organizer-in-chief), the man behind the entire show!

The venue selected to materialize the event was decent in location and size, the ambiance of the event was lively, colorful, well organized and decorated enough to stir up the minds of the people to get them straight into the outdoor festivity mood. Chairs and dining tables were set up near the food stalls, water dispensers and disposable glasses were easily available around, performance stage was wonderfully built with proper lightning and sound system, good police security was deployed, ambulance and fire brigade stood by 24/7 for safety reasons. Everything was beautifully organized and well planned.

Approximately 3000 to 4000 people of mixed gentry attended the event; people of all age groups from students to working professionals to family groups to parents with kids to typical aunts and uncles attended the festival. The crowd largely constituted of North east people and North Indians with a little addition from other parts of India and abroad.

Five regional food stalls were put up; 2 from Nagaland (Nagaland Kitchen & Dzukou – the tribal kitchen), 1 from Sikkim, 1 from Assam (Khorika), 1 from Manipur (Rosang) and 1 from Tripura. All the food stalls showcased their sumptuous ethnic cuisines and delicacies of its own region. Arunachal, Meghalaya and Mizo food stalls were missing however, people did not feel its absence as some of the stalls even served their dishes and cuisines.

People were mostly and literally seen hogging pork meat, be it in the form of pork ribs, pork barbeque, pork momo, pork thali or pork khorika…. At one point, during peak dinner time, it seemed as if some kind of a pork eating festival was going on rather than North East Festival :-), which ever dining table you lay your eyes upon, it had plates of pork meat. People ate and ate so much at the event that almost all the food stalls were dried up before long and had to cook more than 3-4 times a day to relish the hunger of the customers who had attended the fest and totally had an appetite for North East food.

North Indians too, to be specific, did not take a back seat when it came to eating pork meat and trying out variants of North East cuisines. In one instance, a Sardarji and his family, devoid of any qualms, were seen trying out Atul Lahkar’s famous pork Khorika and Dzukou’s famous pork ribs :-).

In the evening, attendees were either seen basking in the glory of the food at the bistro or at the cultural evenings which showcased North East’s fashion show and musical talents. Cheers, claps and hoots continuously echoed in the open air when renowned North East personalities like Mary Kom, Adil Hussain, Zubin Garg etc. walked the ramp. Professional singers and noted musicians from the North East region like Guru Rewben Mashangva, Mami Varte, Zubin garg, Mami Varte, Alobo Naga, Lou Majaw etc further elevated the crowd to get into the trance of rock n’ roll.

The event undeniably was well organized and perfectly executed to a wonderful success and the man behind this success and iconic event is none other than Mr. S.K Mahanta who with a concept, vision and entrepreneurship have brought ‘ North East Festival 2013’ a grand success at the Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts ground (IGNCA) Janpath, New Delhi on Fri, Nov 08th and Sat. 09th  2013. These two days will ever be remembered in the history of North East conglomeration in New Delhi for bringing awareness, promoting tourism, brotherhood, peace and unity. Cheers!

What could have been better?

To attract more people.

Arrangement of more chairs and dining tables.

No regional language/dialect on performance stage in the form of speech.

Lastly, performance of Papon & Soulmate.

Gear up for North East India Festival in New Delhi 2013.

Music aficionados, food lovers, dance admirers and other enthusiasts hailing from North East India and beyond will get to enjoy a 2 day long carnival at the upcoming “North East Festival” to be held at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts ground(IGNCA) Janpath, New Delhi on Fri, Nov 08^th and Sat. 09^th  2013.

According to a press release held on Sept 12th ’13 in New Delhi, Mr. Shyamkanu Mahanta, the Organizer-in-Chief of North East Festival said, “The event is organized by Trend MMS, the leading cultural trust of the region in collaboration with North East MP’s Forum and IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India and with support from Ministry of DoNER, Government of India, North East India Image Managers (NEIim), comprising  Delhi based Communication professionals working voluntary for promotion of North East, all student associations of North East India based in Delhi  are also partnering the event”. Also, leading personalities of various States, top icons of the North East, and Student associations of the region based in Delhi, all have joined hands to organize this event.

The event aims at showcasing all the eight state’s ethnic dances, cultural heritage, tourism, handloom, handicraft, food, success stories and top musical talents who have made mark in national and international platforms. Additionally, the event will also comprise discussions on trade, development and security aspects of the region.

Attendees at the event can expect lively environment, traditional food stalls, cultural performances, literary & academic discussions, folk music and modern music, North east tourism etc. Eminent personalities from North East region like Adil Hussain, Mary Kom & Baichung Bhutia are invited brand ambassadors for the event while confirmation from the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to attend the event are still awaited.

Dances from all the NE states, including Sikkim, will be presented during the day while evening performances will bring in wonderful music to elevate the ambience further more. Professional singers and noted musicians from the North East region like Guru Rewben Mashangva, Alobo Naga, Mami Varte, Papon, Zubin Garg, Lou Majaw, and Shillong Chamber Coir etc are invited to participate at the North East Festival in New Delhi.

The musicians lined up for Nov 08^th are - Guru Rewben Mashangva (Manipur), Mami Varte (Mizoram), Pamak Kamut, Ngawang Tashi Bapu (Arunachal Pradesh), Mr. BK Hrangkhal (Tripura), Alobo Naga (Nagaland), Zubin Garg (Assam). The musicians lined up for Nov 09^th are - Ms Kalpana Patowary (Assam), Lou Majaw and his team (Meghalaya), Papon (Assam) & other folk artists. However, the Programme schedule is tentative and subjected to change depending on situation. For more information on programme updates & schedules. Visit their website.

North East Festival in New Delhi will be special and unique of its own kind, making it a mark for the first time to conglomerate A to Z North East personalities under one roof, at one time, with a mission to bridge the gap and bring awareness within the North East states and the other parts of the country. North East Festival in New Delhi 2013 will be an iconic event and be regarded as one of the biggest events ever to be held and celebrated outside the region, if materialized successfully.

All the best to the 'North East Festival' organizers!!