“going to be dedicating 40% of the slots for international acts”

Over 40 acts performed at Eastwind ’08. Under the assumption that at least that many will perform at Eastwind ’09, we’re looking at a good 16-18 international acts this year. The first of these were announced on the Eastwind website. They include

BENGALA (Mexico)
Black Sonora (Brazil)
Cardamom (Netherlands)
Pambo (Mexico)
The Aston Shuffle (Australia)

If you’re worried you haven’t heard/heard of any of these artists, don’t. We haven’t either. But then the promise of some international artists is better than the disappointment of no international artist, right? The music ranges from indie rock to samba to pop to electronica. More artist announcements are expected soon, though it’s been a while since the promised Aug 19 reveal-all date, that got pushed to “first week of September”.

A bunch of Indian bands have also been announced including Advaita, Cassini’s Division, Faridkot, Lounge Piranha, menwhopause, PINKNOISE, Sajid Akbar, Something Relevant and The Supersonics. Not bad for a first draft. More details when we hear them.