Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music
The Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music is an annual music festival held at the Fireflies Ashram off Kanakapura road, Bangalore. It was previously known as Bhoomi Jathre.
The festival
The stage, as always, is set under a banyan tree in an open-air amphitheatre, adjacent to a lake and away from the sodium trail of the city . Here, through music we celebrate the relationship of oneness between man and earth. This forms the bedrock of the festival ethos. It is also a celebration of the pluralism of India. The festival, from dusk to dawn, is a cultural experience where on offer is sounds of various genres. Taking care to juxtapose the indigenous with the international, the established with the unheard of, and jazz with tribal folk. It is one of those peaceful and soothing time that one really needs in their busy and hectic life.
The first year the theme was "Peace in Iraq", the second year the need to conserve water, the third year "Protect and grow more trees", and the fourth year "The inner journey–The outer journey".
The Fireflies festival covers a wide range of musical genres including Hindustani and carnatic vocal and instrumental, baul, fusion, western jazz, folk, alternative music, and many experimental and innovative genres.
The coming edition is being organized on 19 February 2011, starting from 7 PM to 7 AM. Passes need to be purchased. One should visit the official website fireflies.org.in to get contact details and further information.
Performers
For the 2011 festival, the ANNOUNCED line-up is as follows:
1. Thermal and a Quarter
2. Swarathma
3. Something Relevant
4. Moon Arra
5. Spinifex with Dr Mysore Manjunath
6. The Bicycle Days
7. Esperanto
8. Dollu Kunitha
9. Parvaaz
10. yodhakaa
11. Vedanth and Bindu
12. Faiyaz Khan
13. Sandesh lays UK
Artistes who participated in the festival of 20/21 February 2010 were:
- Brahmastra – Fresh talent Fusion
- Bhaktiyana- Directed by Meera Rajaram Pranesh Carnatic Classical
- HFT- Jazz
- Esperanto- Soul fusion
- Shabnam Virmani- Kabir
- Jalshaghar- Hindustani/jazz fusion
- Hulivesha- Directed by Mohan Das Kothari Folk
- Lounge Piranha- Alternative grunge
- Prakash Sontakke group- Fusion
- Bharat Sargam and group- Qawali
- Vayali- Kerala folk
- Low Rhyderz- Hip hop and rap/reggae
- Kyle McCloud and Hayley Sabella- Banjo/Acoustic guitar/Fujara flute
- Bharat Mata Nach Kud Baja- Indian reggae
- Fresh talent Precipus- Indie/fusion/ alternative rock
Artists who participated in the festival of 21/22 February 2009 were:
- Bhumi Thayi Balaga (Folk)
- Anusuya Kulkarni (Indonesian Anklung)
- Prakash Sontakke & Group (Hawaiian Guitar Fusion)
- Solviteur Canendo (Acapella)
- Geetha Navale & the Esperanto Project (Soul Fusion)
- Vayali (Kerala Folk)
- Swaratma (Folk Rock)
- Shabnam Virmani & Group (Kabir/Sufi)
- Veeraghase (Kannada Folk)
- Shahid Parved of Nagpur (Qawali)
- Ranjankumar Barua & Group (Hindustani fusion)
- Rex Rossario (Jazz Quintet)
Performers that have participated in this festival include:
- The Choir of the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore - led by Siddhartha Kotwal
- Vid. B.K Ananthram & Amit A Nadig - Classical Carnatic flute duet
- Sanjay Deshpande - Hindustani Sitar
- The Taalavadya Percussion Ensemble - Carnatic percussions
- Prakash Sontakke - Hindustani Hawaiian Guitar
- Dr. Thomas Chandy with his group - Jazz Revival
- Geetha Navale with her group – Esperanto
- Oikyotaan - Baul music fusion
- Bharat Sargam - Qawali
- Sumati - Hindustani Vocal
- The Raghu Dixit Project - Indo World Folk Rock
- Dollu Kunitha - traditional drumming
- Lounge Piranha - ambient-psychedelic music
- Rhythm of Rajasthan
- Tala Vadya (Karnataka College of Percussion)
- Vid. Geetha Navale and group (Veena concert)
- Earth Born (Carnatic Jazz fusion)
- Kalbelia: Nomad Dancer of Rajasthan
- Dollu Kunita
- Qawali (Shafiq Pervez and group from Nagpur)
- Hindol Deb (Hindustani Classical)
- Bernard Wacheux (French Violinist – jazz / gypsy music)
- Clio Karabelia, (French Harpist - western and Indian classical music)
- Nemanja Rebic (Serbian Guitarist - alternative)
References
- Christopher, Kavya (26 April 2004). "City celebrates music and art, Jathre style". The Times Of India. Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Earth fair in the concrete jungle". The Hindu. 29 April 2004. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Back to basics". The Hindu. 20 April 2005. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- George, Katherine (7 May 2005). "Tree time". Tehelka. Anant Media Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music on April 8". The Hindu. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Fireflies music fest tomorrow". The Hindu. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Dusk-to-dawn fest is back". The Hindu. 18 February 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- "Fireflies Festival 2009". My Bangalore. Double Spring Media (India) Pvt Ltd. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-04.