Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music

The Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music is an annual music festival held at the Fireflies Ashram off Kanakapura road, Bangalore. It was previously known as Bhoomi Jathre.

The festival

The stage, as always, is set under a banyan tree in an open-air amphitheatre, adjacent to a lake and away from the sodium trail of the city .^{[citation needed]} Here, through music we celebrate the relationship of oneness between man and earth.^{[citation needed]} This forms the bedrock of the festival ethos.^{[citation needed]} It is also a celebration of the pluralism of India.^{[citation needed]}^{[citation needed]} The festival, from dusk to dawn, is a cultural experience where on offer is sounds of various genres.^{[citation needed]} Taking care to juxtapose the indigenous with the international, the established with the unheard of, and jazz with tribal folk.^{[citation needed]} It is one of those peaceful and soothing time that one really needs in their busy and hectic life.^{[citation needed]}

The first year the theme was "Peace in Iraq", the second year the need to conserve water, the third year "Protect and grow more trees", and the fourth year "The inner journey–The outer journey".^{[citation needed]}

The Fireflies festival covers a wide range of musical genres including Hindustani and carnatic vocal and instrumental, baul, fusion, western jazz, folk, alternative music, and many experimental and innovative genres.^{[citation needed]}

The coming edition is being organized on 19 February 2011, starting from 7 PM to 7 AM. Passes need to be purchased. One should visit the official website fireflies.org.in to get contact details and further information.

Performers

For the 2011 festival, the ANNOUNCED line-up is as follows:^{[citation needed]}

1. Thermal and a Quarter^{[citation needed]}

2. Swarathma^{[citation needed]}

3. Something Relevant^{[citation needed]}

4. Moon Arra^{[citation needed]}

5. Spinifex with Dr Mysore Manjunath^{[citation needed]}

6. The Bicycle Days^{[citation needed]}

7. Esperanto^{[citation needed]}

8. Dollu Kunitha^{[citation needed]}

9. Parvaaz^{[citation needed]}

10. yodhakaa^{[citation needed]}

11. Vedanth and Bindu^{[citation needed]}

12. Faiyaz Khan^{[citation needed]}

13. Sandesh lays UK^{[citation needed]}

Artistes who participated in the festival of 20/21 February 2010 were:

Brahmastra – Fresh talent Fusion^{[citation needed]}
Bhaktiyana- Directed by Meera Rajaram Pranesh Carnatic Classical^{[citation needed]}
HFT- Jazz^{[citation needed]}
Esperanto- Soul fusion^{[citation needed]}
Shabnam Virmani- Kabir^{[citation needed]}
Jalshaghar- Hindustani/jazz fusion^{[citation needed]}
Hulivesha- Directed by Mohan Das Kothari Folk^{[citation needed]}
Lounge Piranha- Alternative grunge^{[citation needed]}
Prakash Sontakke group- Fusion^{[citation needed]}
Bharat Sargam and group- Qawali^{[citation needed]}
Vayali- Kerala folk^{[citation needed]}
Low Rhyderz- Hip hop and rap/reggae^{[citation needed]}
Kyle McCloud and Hayley Sabella- Banjo/Acoustic guitar/Fujara flute ^{[citation needed]}
Bharat Mata Nach Kud Baja- Indian reggae^{[citation needed]}
Fresh talent Precipus- Indie/fusion/ alternative rock^{[citation needed]}

Artists who participated in the festival of 21/22 February 2009 were:

Bhumi Thayi Balaga (Folk) ^{[citation needed]}
Anusuya Kulkarni (Indonesian Anklung) ^{[citation needed]}
Prakash Sontakke & Group (Hawaiian Guitar Fusion) ^{[citation needed]}
Solviteur Canendo (Acapella) ^{[citation needed]}
Geetha Navale & the Esperanto Project (Soul Fusion) ^{[citation needed]}
Vayali (Kerala Folk) ^{[citation needed]}
Swaratma (Folk Rock) ^{[citation needed]}
Shabnam Virmani & Group (Kabir/Sufi) ^{[citation needed]}
Veeraghase (Kannada Folk) ^{[citation needed]}
Shahid Parved of Nagpur (Qawali) ^{[citation needed]}
Ranjankumar Barua & Group (Hindustani fusion) ^{[citation needed]}
Rex Rossario (Jazz Quintet)^{[citation needed]}

Performers that have participated in this festival include:

The Choir of the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore - led by Siddhartha Kotwal^{[citation needed]}
Vid. B.K Ananthram & Amit A Nadig - Classical Carnatic flute duet^{[citation needed]}
Sanjay Deshpande - Hindustani Sitar^{[citation needed]}
The Taalavadya Percussion Ensemble - Carnatic percussions^{[citation needed]}
Prakash Sontakke - Hindustani Hawaiian ^{[citation needed]}Guitar
Dr. Thomas Chandy with his group - Jazz Revival^{[citation needed]}
Geetha Navale with her group – Esperanto^{[citation needed]}
Oikyotaan - Baul music fusion^{[citation needed]}
Bharat Sargam - Qawali^{[citation needed]}
Sumati - Hindustani Vocal^{[citation needed]}
The Raghu Dixit Project - Indo World Folk Rock^{[citation needed]}
Dollu Kunitha - traditional drumming^{[citation needed]}
Lounge Piranha - ambient-psychedelic music^{[citation needed]}
Rhythm of Rajasthan^{[citation needed]}
Tala Vadya (Karnataka College of Percussion) ^{[citation needed]}
Vid. Geetha Navale and group (Veena concert)^{[citation needed]}
Earth Born (Carnatic Jazz fusion)^{[citation needed]}
Kalbelia: Nomad Dancer of Rajasthan^{[citation needed]}
Dollu Kunita^{[citation needed]}
Qawali (Shafiq Pervez and group from Nagpur)^{[citation needed]}
Hindol Deb (Hindustani Classical)^{[citation needed]}
Bernard Wacheux (French Violinist – jazz / gypsy music)^{[citation needed]}
Clio Karabelia, (French Harpist - western and Indian classical music) ^{[citation needed]}
Nemanja Rebic (Serbian Guitarist - alternative)^{[citation needed]}

References

Christopher, Kavya (26 April 2004). "City celebrates music and art, Jathre style". The Times Of India. Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Earth fair in the concrete jungle". The Hindu. 29 April 2004. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Back to basics". The Hindu. 20 April 2005. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
George, Katherine (7 May 2005). "Tree time". Tehelka. Anant Media Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music on April 8". The Hindu. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Fireflies music fest tomorrow". The Hindu. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Dusk-to-dawn fest is back". The Hindu. 18 February 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"Fireflies Festival 2009". My Bangalore. Double Spring Media (India) Pvt Ltd. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-04.

External links