NH7

Arunachal Pradesh will host a three-day music festival this September. The festival is a combined initiative between Arunachal Pradesh Department of Tourism and a few local and out-of-state promoters. The festival will be held in the small town of Ziro (picture inside), which lies at about a distance of 150 kilometres from Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh.

We spoke to one of the organisers of the festival, Anup Kutty (also plays guitar for New Delhi alt rockers menwhopause) to find out more about how they set the festival up and decided upon the lineup

We had been to Ziro on our North-East tour last year and were absolutely in love with the place. We’ve wanted to play there since back then. We already knew Bobby Hano, a promoter in Arunachal Pradesh and after talking to him we came up with the idea to hold a festival there. After we made the initial pitch to the Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Department, they seemed to like the idea as well and gave us the go-ahead.

Getting the artists to agree was really easy. Everyone wanted to play and the location is so beautiful that it wasn’t a hard sell at all. We’ve also tried to keep the lineup more focused towards the North-East than anywhere else so more artists from that region will be playing. We weren’t really expecting a huge response, but ever since we announced the festival, more and more people from other regions have been getting in touch with us and trying to get a slot.

The festival is scheduled to take place from September 14-16 and the current lineup includes bands like The Vinyl Records, Peter Cat Recording Co., menwhopause, Lou Majaw, Teddy Boy Kill, Sky Rabbit (pictured outside), Digital Suicide, Street Stories, Lucid Recess and others. The organisers were initially planning to have one big stage but said they might add stages. The venue will also have a campsite that can be used to pitch tents and the government will be constructing bamboo shelters that attendees can stay in. You can get more details on accommodation and travel through the Ziro Festival website. Keep watching this space for more from the Ziro festival.

Photos by Arif Siddiqui and Naman Saraiya