Pics: Baajaa Gaajaa Day Two

Folk music formed the focus of day two. Swarathma, who  performed a set of mainly new material, drew the largest crowd for a gig on one of the open stages. The ghodi may have been officially retired but she returned in the form of colourful masks, the newest piece of Swarathma merchandise on the block. They jammed with a member of the Rajasthani percussion ensemble who performed before them. The group were described to us the “Rajasthani folk music equivalent of  drum n’ bass”. The big gig of the night was a battle of the bands, between Bengali singer Lopamudra Mitra, Anwar Khan from Rajasthan, and Wajahat Hussein Khan and his qawwali troupe. It was not quite the face-off we were expecting with the three musicians politely taking turns to present their tunes.

Kunal Kakodkar took these top pics.  He has a big… rig.