South Asian Bands festival's third edition to rock Delhi

In an attempt to create a cultural connection between the countries of South Asia through the beats of rock music, the third edition of the South Asian Bands festival will see a melange of musicians from across the border perform with their Indian counterparts.

The three-day musical festival, starting from 11th December at the Purana Qila here, will see fifteen rock bands from nine countries, including well known names like Pakistani group Strings of Zinda fame, Nagarbul & James from Bangladesh and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy from India.

"The band festival has become popular, particularly among youngsters. Our confidence arises from an impressive line-up of bands. There is an all-women band called Afflatus which will open the festival, and the grand finale will be by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy," Virendra Gupta, director general of Indian Council for Cultural Relations told reporters here.

"Then we also have Nagarbul & James which has given music in various Bollywood films like Metro. This time we have gone beyond Saarc to also include Myanmar in the list," Gupta added.

Apart from the big daddies of Rock 'n' Roll, the festival has also provided upcoming artists like Emperor (Myanmar), 'Fa'thu and The Early Birds' (Maldives) and Indian acts like Afflatus (Shillong) and Avial (Trivandrum) to collaborate with the biggest names in the music industry.

"In our nine countries of South Asia, there are some bands who are very well established and some which need hand-holding. Here, artists learn a lot by getting a huge exposure by collaborating with other musicians," curator of the festival, Sanjeev Bhargava from Seher said.

The festival will also see a band, Kabul Dreams from war-torn Afghanistan.

"Music is the best healer, and if any effort has to be made to prevent talibanisation in the country which is going through internal convulsion, then music and education can be the most potent force," Gupta said.

The band festival will be followed by a cross cultural artists' camp in March to be held in Jammu, and a first-ever South Asian Theatre festival with a theme related to women issues in the wake of the International Women's Day on 8 March.