As the country is all set to celebrate its 60th year of independence, around 60 bands will perform on two stages with 170,000 watts of mind blowing sound at the Levi's Freedom Jam concert. 

This non-stop, free music event will be held at Palace Grounds on August 5, from 3 pm onwards playing right into the night till 10 pm.

Guruskool pioneered the Freedom Jam project eleven years ago. Since then, this project has been providing a platform for budding artists to showcase their creativity and has proved to be a stepping stone to several bands and artists in the country. Musicians like Lucky Ali and Vasundara Das to name a few, have performed at earlier Freedom Jams before they moved on.

Everything from rock to carnatic, hip hop to heavy metal will be featured on the multiple stages in this year's music mela. Musicians performing at the Freedom Jam include Panatella, Funk n Roll and Rainbow Bridge from Chennai, Cyanide from Delhi, Smitha Bellur (Hindustani), Galeej Gurus, Kryptos, Extinct Reflections, Parousia, Slain, Lounge Piranha, Met Basar from Mumbai, Myndsnare, Ministry of Blues and Quasar, among others.

According to Shyam Sukhramani, marketing director, Levi Strauss (India), “This annual event in Bangalore has set a unique stage for showcasing extremely talented bands and their original compositions.” At this year's venue - Palace Grounds, there will be flea market where musicians and bands can retail their CDs, accessories, musical instruments and audio tapes.

Since its inception, eleven years ago, Freedom Jam has been growing at a fast pace. The annual Freedom Jam free music festival is Bangalore's own Woodstock. The concert usually sees thousands of music lovers and over a hundred musicians gathering to perform at the annual Jam celebrating freedom with music.

This unique musical gathering is the continuation of an old musical tradition in Bangalore, where in the early eighties at the 'Music Strip' in Cubbon Park, musicians used to get together and perform for free on Sunday evenings. This spirit was revived during the celebrations of the Indian independence in 1996, when musicians of all styles gathered together behind Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore, to celebrate freedom  their way - by playing music. Thus Freedom Jam was born. It proved hugely popular and it was continued in the form of monthly Sunday Jams also organised by Guruskool, regularly held on the first Sunday of every month and culminating in a huge annual Freedom Jam music festival on the eve of Independence Day.
DHNS