The Alsisar Mahal in the arid Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan is a 17th century heritage property that plays host to the Magnetic Fields music festival every December. The contemporary art and music festival that describes itself as bringing together “future-facing sounds from India and around the world,” is back with its sixth edition this year.
Co-founder Sarah Chawla says, “The aim of the festival has always been to surprise and delight guests and ourselves. We always try and introduce new and exciting artistes from around the world, but this year, we are especially excited about the line up.” Some international headliners this year include London-based DJ Daphni, Belfast-born dance music duo Bicep, jazz fusion act Kamaal Williams and Luxembourg-based afro post-punk quartet No Metal In This Battle. Homegrown artistes such as Fopchu, Zokhuma and Peter Cat Recording Co. (who will debut their new album) will also be playing.
Bengaluru-based Monsoon Search Party brings together Sharath Narayan (from the band Black Letters), Shoumik Biswas aka Disco Puppet, musician Shreyas Dipali, record label Consolidate’s co-founder Anirudh Menon and singer-songwriter Joseph Jeevan Antony. “You could expect something melan-cholic, with each of our personalities sprinkled all over,” says Jeevan about their dream pop set that they will play at the BUDX South stage.
Aniruddh Menon, will also be performing his solo act at the Saavn Sundowner stage. “I’m excited for both projects because they’re very different,” says the musician. He says his music is influenced by instrumental, left-field hip hop. “But I’m also as inspired by the Indian film music I grew up listening to. The end result is a bastardised sound, but with a lot of heart,” he says.
Sandhya Visvanathan, who goes by the name, Pardafash, will also be playing at the Saavn Sundowner Stage. “Pardafash is a mix of things. I use spoken word and auto-tuned vocals to narrate over electronic music,” she explains. She will be singing and talking about love and violence. “Song writing (especially protest music) is amazing for documenting the time we live
in,” she says.
The festival will also focus on their relationship with the local community this year. “We worked on streamlining the backend of the festival — working with a waste management consultancy, we’re initiating our own CSR programme with the local community and we’re strengthening our
messaging about welfare on site,” Sarah signs off.
Rs. 12,000 upwards. December 14- 16. At Alsisar, Rajasthan
anagha@newindianexpress.com
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