Fireflies all night

The theme for this year's dawn to dusk Fireflies Festival of Music was 'Concern for the plight of Tribals in India'. And it was evident in the lyrics of the song titled 'WTO' by Esperanto (a Bangalore-based band) - the first performance we saw after settling down with bedsheets, blankets & cushions (which we had carried from home) in the rustic amphitheatre of Fireflies Ashram. The lyrics were as interesting as the festival itself. Fireflies Festival of Music is an annual event organized since 1999 by Fireflies Ashram located in Dinnepalya Village, off Kanakpura Road, Bangalore. The place was about 25 Kms away from my home. Although I was a first timer there, I had heard so much about it from Rajesh that I didn't really feel like one. The stage was set under a huge banyan tree and the amphitheatre was surrounded by trees in their natural setup and not the carefully landscaped ones that we see so often these days.

Back to the music - the lyrics of the song WTO essentially said, in very simple words, that what is touted by governments & industrialists as development of Aadivasis is actually their road to death. The next performance was Veena recital by RK Padmanabha of Mysore. Unlike any conventional performance, there were quite a few experimental notes/raagas. And although the ensemble was essentially Indian (Veena, Mridangam, Ghatam), sometimes it sounded quite like fusion music. Oh, and we did enjoy the expressive performance of the Mridang player Raghunandan. This was followed by a performance of Karnataka folk dance form by group Puje Kunita. The traditional drum beats reminded me of those played during Durga Puja in Bengal & Bihar.

Then there were Shabnam Virmani & Dipta singing Kabir's dohe with a touch of Malva folk music. Shabnam Virmani is a documentary filmmaker turned singer who was so inspired by the folk musicians she was filming, that she eventually turned into a singer herself. Shabnam & Deepa's rendition of Journeys with Kabir was very profound and impressive. It also turned out to be my mother's favorite performance of the evening. The next band to perform was Emergence - an Acoustic Indo fusion band from Auroville, Pondicherry. Their music was interesting but their lyrics could have been better. The lead vocalist Krishna (a French, I think) spoke Tamil with such a perfect accent that people started demanding a Tamil number from him :)

It was already past midnight by the time Emergence played their last number and we were reluctantly ready to leave for home. And as always, we noticed some interesting things (besides the music). There were quite a few foreigners (mostly Europeans) who had come to Bangalore especially for the event. The crowd was as eclectic as the music and sometimes it was fun just to look around. There were some people who had not come there for music as we found them sprawled far away from the amphitheatre and busy socializing. Rajesh also said that the crowd has grown manifolds since his last visit two years ago. Oh, and did I mention about the small adventure when a baby snake crawled out from the cracks of the stone seats just ahead of ours - probably to enjoy the music but caused a small commotion in the crowd :)

Overall, a very enjoyable & unique experience. I am already looking forward to the next year's event and am planning to stay the whole night too.