Friday, December 03, 2010

Cherrapunjee Indigenous Festival 2010


If you been planning a trip to north east and if you also happen to be a die hard rock fan, next week is the time to go! The Cherrapunjee indigenous festival is on from Dec 8th to Dec 11th. You might all be familiar with the name 'Cherrapunjee', which was a constant in our school history books as the place which recieves the highest rainfall in India. The festival's aim is to showcase the traditional art and culture of Meghalaya. The display of traditional archery will be one of the highlights. But, what might be of big interest to all the rock fans out here will be the national level rock competition to be held on the 10th of December, where the winning band will take home a cash price of Rs. 1.5 lakhs.

The icing on the cake is going to be the performances by 9 specially invited bands. The list of bands performing are as follows.

1. Indus Creed- One of India's first 'big' bands 'Indus Creed' is making a comeback. And, one of the first set of concerts is going to be at Cherrapunjee. The rock machine fronted by Uday Benegal is coming together after a real long hiatus of 10 years. So, be there to witness what they've in store for you.

2. Soulmate- The blues duo of Rudy Wallang and Tipriti 'tips' Kharbhangar needs no introduction. I've already talked about them in this blog last month. This is surely an unmissable treat.

3.Abiogenesis- A rock fusion band from Nagaland who invented a genre of their own-'Howey'. Discover for yourselves what exactly that is, cos even I don't have any idea. BTW, They were nominated for grammys in the world music category last time.

4. Susmit Bose- Dubbed as the 'Indian Bob Dylan', he's a veteran who's been performing since the 70s. His songs dealing with human rights, non violence, world peace etc has earned him accolades and also at the same time highlighted important issues.

5. Lama Tashi- The former Principal Chant master of the Dalai Lama will add a dash of spirituality to the proceedings.

6. Gyomyo Nakamura- This Japanese Buddhist is a rock musician who is said to possess some insane guitaring skills.

7. Girish n the Chronicles- This Gangtok based rock band was the first Indian band to compete in Suncane Skale music festuval in Montenegro.

8. Colours-A Shillong based band formed way back in 2004.

9. Snow White



So, Booked your tickets to Cherrapunjee????

your crusader Praveen