City gives green nod at music fete

‘Echoes of Earth’ is a large-scale music and dance party that also imparts lessons on conservation and sustainability to the attendees

Bengaluru’s own music festival ‘Echoes of Earth’ took place this weekend at Embassy International Riding School. One of the greenest music festivals in the country, it is a two-day celebration of music, art and culture.

This time, the festival had four stages, each featuring world fusion, live electronica, underground techno, house, Indian folk and acoustic-unplugged, performed by artistes drawn from the country and abroad.

Recycled materials, zero-waste policy

Aimed at spreading the twin messages of sustainability and conservation, the entire festival was largely produced using upcycled and recycled materials, seen as large stages and installations. From setting up solar-powered stages to strictly following a zero-waste policy, the festival proved that large events can be conducted responsibly too.

A glance around the sprawling venue showed stalls and seating arrangements made from wood and straw, garbage bins at regular intervals, renewable energy-powered lights, solar-powered charging stations and free drinking water stations. Workers from Hasiru Dala kept the area clean while a sizeable police presence ensured no untoward incidents happened.

The attendees were asked to bring their own water bottles which they could refill for free at the walking stations.

Focus on endangered species

The theme is year was ‘The Sanctuary’; the festival paid tribute to the endangered species in India and the world through eco-friendly installations placed all over the venue. From a terrifying Gharial made entirely from Red Bull cans to a 30 x 12-foot interactive art installation of the endangered Humpback Mahseer made entirely from scrap items, creativity and environmental awareness were combined in multiple ways.

Three stages were named after endangered species — the tiger, hangul and vulture — and each sported a gigantic replica of these majestic creatures as its backdrop.

Varied yet enthusiastic crowd

The festival was eco-friendly, pet-friendly, booze-friendly, smoking-friendly — about as friendly as a place can get in India. The audience made most of this opportunity to let their hair down and turned up in droves, most of them braving the winter chill to dress in their eclectic best.

Quite a few children were seen, soaking in the fun and frolic, while the pooches who turned up were treated to pats and hugs from many passers-by.

Diverse line up of artistes

Some of the artists who performed this year are (((O))) , Acid Pauli, Chrms, Daniel Waples, Fakear, Garden City Movement, Gauley Bhai, Jitter, Kavya X Chaz, Khasi Bloodz Ft Meba Ofilia, La P’tite Fumée, Lifafa, Maksim Dark, Mathame, Natasha Diggs, Prabh Deep, Sarathy Korwar, Season Affected Beats, Shigeto Live Ensemble, Stalvart John and The Soul.

Apart from music...

There was a flea market selling organic products, a pet zone, a National Geographic Wild Zone (with activities for kids), food and beverage stalls set up by brands like Smallys, Soup Stations, Social, Apsara Ice cream, Renaissance Hotel and many more.

‘Inspiration is all around me’

Thaalavattam, a percussion-project-collective from India and Austria, claims its motto as ‘Reduce Reuse Retune’, with a vision to clean the environment through music. Fronted by former Swarathma bandman Montry Manuel, Thaalavattam (meaning ‘Circle of Rhythm’) just came back from touring 16 European countries. They create grooves and rhythms with ‘found objects’ such as industrial tubes, paint cans, automotive parts, bicycle parts and more.

Montry, who is a designer-turned-environmentalist, says, “Being environmentally friendly is of paramount importance these days. We need to make mother earth a better place for future generations.”

He says he gets inspired and influenced from nature, colours, people, what he sees in everyday life. “This includes conversations, found objects like floating jugs, plastic bags and bottles, graphic design, experiences of my travels around the world, street music and so on.”

‘The audience can expect a lot of energy’

Chrms (Veer Kowli , a young electronic producer based in Mumbai, describes his music as ‘indie dream’ — pop merged with all kinds of electronica. He says that his audience can expect a lot of energy.

How do you decide your setlist for a live gig?

I usually go about planning the flow of the set according to the kind of story I want to tell. A suitable intro, a body with a whole bunch of highs and lows, and an open-ended climax.

Indian classical music thrills and perplexes me, says handpan artiste

Renowned handpan artiste Daniel Waples has been in India so many times by now that he says he is applying for a PAN card.

What is different about your performance for the festival?

Firstly, I am playing an instrument newly tuned by me so the configuration of the notes is laid out slightly different, I’m not used to them that much. Secondly, I have mostly always performed solo in India earlier. This time I am playing with Flavio Lopez, which is interesting.

What are your musical influences?

My father was a blues guitarist in London. So I grew up listening to quite a bit of blues and jazz, which later included heavy rock music too. At the age of 11, I started playing military snare drum in a military marching band. We played a couple of times for the Queen and also at some other prestigious places. But then I went ahead and got a higher national Diploma in stringed musical instrument technology.

When did you come back to percussions then?

One day, I saw somebody playing an African jembe. I sat down with him and within five minutes, we had people coming and dancing. It was then that I realised the power of percussion; I had been playing the guitar for ten years and no one ever danced (laughs). It was about the same time I saw a hand pan.

Where have you performed in India?

For the last couple of years, I’ve been playing with Arijit Singh, who obviously is quite a big name in the Bollywood industry. I have played at both the Ambani weddings and also done a couple of interesting events which showed me a side of India I’ve not really seen before.

What do you think about Indian music?

It confuses me. It’s quite crazy seeing time signatures that jump around so much. And there’s so much depth, so much history in a raga. So when it comes to the Indian classical side of things, I am perplexed as well as completely thrilled by it. And I do really enjoy seeing live recitals. But it’s lost upon me. It’s just something that I haven’t spent that much time studying.

The Bollywood scene is a very interesting one. I have been exposed to that for the last couple of years and it has been quite an eye-opener. For one of our programmes, we had a bagpipe player from Israel, a Canadian player from Turkey, a cello player from Poland, a didgeridoo player from Germany, some flamenco guitarists from Spain and some bands from Kolkata. Anything is possible here!

‘Fascinated by Indian culture’

French producer Viken Arman says his sets are always improvised so it’s fully part of the moment. He is composing his new EP with his band; something he calls as “more musical and more experimental”.

We heard you will be doing a special back to back set with German electronic artist Acid Pauli...

Acid Pauli is a very close friend, we know each other for many years now. We share the same vision, so when we play together it’s always interesting. It’s like a conversation but we are using sonorities instead of words.

Thoughts on India and what are you looking forward to doing while here?

India has been a crazy inspiration to me. I’m fascinated by this culture. There is such a special approach to life, spirituality and music - in particular rhythmically and harmonically; when I was younger I was obsessed with the flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. I don’t know what to expect exactly (it’s never a good thing to have expectations); but I’ll try to visit as many places as I can and embrace the atmosphere. It would be a dream If I can meet up with musicians here.

Where do you think electronic music is headed to next? What trends do you see coming up?

It’s an exciting time; I was seeing some limits in this industry but now there is a demand. People want something new and artists are finally taking risks, and that’s in the unknown where wonderful things unfold.

I don’t know about trends because I always go against trends (though this might be a cliched response). But I try new things to always surprise people; for example, I started playing downtempo in clubs because DJs used to play fast. Now, if ethnic downtempo is popular, I guess we’ll have to play hard free Jazz trance (with some tabla on top)! Anyway, I know that we are at the corner of an explosion of creativity.

Overheard at the festival

“They (festival organisers) could have provided for some ride-sharing options too. Now everyone has hailed a cab or taken their own car to reach the venue. Clamping down on carbon emissions is as important as reducing the plastic waste generated.”