Ziro Festival returns to Arunachal Pradesh for its 12th edition this year

The hills come alive with the sound of music- a very literal translation of this popular quote is when every year Arunachal Pradesh returns with its grand music festival – Ziro Festival. This year too, the festival is all set to welcome music lovers as it enters its 12^th edition. For four days - September 25-28, the Festival aims to introduce the world to new voices in music, long before they reach the mainstream circles. Anup Kutty, co-founder and Creative producer of the Festival gives us insights to this year’s line –up and how every year it embodies its objective of presenting the new.

What to expect at the Ziro Festival 2025?

He says, “This year, we’re opening with a tribute to the legendary Zubeen Garg, who embodied everything Ziro Festival stands for — fierce independence and the power of music to bring people together.” He further states, “For the first time ever, we welcome a Congolese band to Ziro — Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, an Afro-punk collective from Kinshasa that builds their instruments from waste materials, echoing the festival’s ethos of sustainability. We’re also hosting a special state showcase on Sikkim, with a dedicated pavilion highlighting the state’s rich cultural diversity. Another exciting addition is a sustainable art residency led by Swiss artist Karin Bucher, who, along with local artist Bamin Lure, is creating an installation entirely from locally sourced wood guided by an Apatani folktale of the Mithun.” It is interesting to note that Ziro Festival is sustainably multi-disciplinary in its approach, giving space to everything from music, art, and wellness – which highlight local tradition.

This year’s line-up over the four days includes a variety of singers and bands from all over the country and outside. Some of the names include Chorun Mugli from Arunachal Pradesh, Da Minot from Meghalaya, Dualist Inquiry from Goa, Ford Trio from Thailand, Waara from Tripura, Your Sweetest Memories from Mizoram, Swanand Kirkire’s Baawra Live from Mumbai and more.

Talking about this balance of tradition and modernity through music, Kutty opines, “Ziro Festival is unique in how seamlessly it weaves genres together throughout the day. Our audience makes the journey not just to reconnect with the familiar but also to discover something unexpected and exciting. This year, for example, you’ll see everything from the classical brilliance of Pt. Abhay Rustom Sopori on the santoor to the award-winning contemporary voice of Shilpa Rao — proof of how tradition and innovation can coexist beautifully on our stages.”

So, what stuck with the audience of the region throughout last year, if one may ask then Kutty says, “Hip-hop has been on a sharp rise, not just globally but across languages and regions in India. At Ziro, we’re excited to feature artists like Arivu from Tamil Nadu and Uniyal from Uttarakhand, both of whom are pushing the genre forward in fresh, powerful ways.”

Before signing off he gives us a sneak peek of his personal favourite by saying, “Lately, I can’t get Swiss artist Anna Erhard’s Cut It Out out of my head.” 

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