Fireflies, an ashram located on the outskirts of Bangalore, opens its gates once every year to embrace music from all over the country. On Saturday, February 19, I reached the venue in the afternoon for the Swarathma soundcheck, and the crowd was already trickling in for an event which was to scheduled for 7 pm that evening. Fireflies always draws music lovers from the city – fans coming in with bedding, blankets, food, and booze, parking themselves around the amphitheatre.
7 pm: The event started with qawwalis, and was followed by the Chennai based contemporary music act Yodhakaa. The band is the project of ex-Raghu Dixit Project percussionist Darbuka Siva, and is an amalgamation of Sanskrit shlokas, blues arpeggios, carnatic riffs in a slide guitars and global percussion. The next in line were Fireflies veterans Esperanto, with Geetha Navale on the Veena, Gopal Navale on the rhythm guitar, Nanda Kishore on lead guitars, Dutchman Michael Sorenson on the harmonica & Ranjan Beura on the violin and B.N. Ramesh on mridangam. Violin, harmonica, veena and guitar seamlessly blended together to form the track ‘Shruti Box’. The act ended with the rendition of Gopal Navale’s track ’Subramaniam’.
Esperanto was followed by psychedelic rock act The Bicycle Days. Unfortunately, their set time was cut down due to a slightly extended sound check. Though an absolute contrast from the previous act, the local favourites took the stage with looped samples, reverberating vocals, and delayed guitars. The act was joined by Mumbai jam band Something Relevant saxophonist Ryan for their last track.
The Bicycle Days @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
The Bicycle Days @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
The Bicycle Days & Something Relevant @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
The Bicycle Days @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Next up was Spinflex with Dr Mysore Manjunath. Spinflex is a jazz ensemble from the Netherlands which includes members well versed with Carnatic music, playing trombones, flutes, trumpets, saxophone, bass and drums. Spinflex started out with a jazz standard and when Dr Mysore Manjunath joined in, the jam-packed amphitheatre was entranced. This was the only act to get a standing ovation, and even though they insisted that they didn’t have anymore material for their encore, they obliged the gathering with an impromptu jam session. I overheard the artists whispering “In D minor”, and they scored another standing ovation.
World music/fusion band Moon Arra was the next to take the stage, and were accompanied by two motion specialists. The act includes veteran Prakash Sontakke on Hawaiian Slide guitar.
Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
1am: The 3,000 capacity Fireflies campus was filled with over 5,000 people. It looked like everyone with a DSLR in Bangalore had made it to the event. All the photographers squeezed into a small trench by the stage and one of the most awaited acts takes the stage – Thermal and A Quarter, in their new avatar fully equipped with flute, saxophone and Jason Zachariah on keys.
Thermal and a Quarter @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Thermal and a Quarter @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Finally at around 2am, Swarathma took the stage. At this point, the guy next to me got bitten by a tiny scorpion – which gave all of us jitters, as it pretty much refused to die! Must have been another die hard Swarathma fan. The audience saw vocalist Vasu Dixit with his new look, ie without the afro. They played a set comprising some new material and brought the slightly drowsy crowd back to life. Scorpion or no scorpion, everyone was up on their feet and no one realized that it was 3am.
Swarathma @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Swarathma @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Swarathma @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Mumbai jam band Something Relevant, got everyone up on their feet, jumping. At 5am, Vedanth and Bindu took the stage and serenaded the audience with Kabir and Basavanna hymns at first light. The day finally ended, or rather began, with Sufi psychedelic rock band Parvaaz at 7am.
Finally with that, over 12hrs of sublime banyan-tree-side music came to a close.
Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Something Relevant @ Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
Fireflies Festival, Bangalore
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