Bhopal: The Great Indian Film and Literature Festival (GIFLIF) plans to organise India's maiden Drive-in Music Festival in the city. The two-day concert would be held on February 13-14 at the Drive-in Cinema on the premises of Hotel Lake View Residency on Shyamla Hills.
The idea is to give the Bhopalites an opportunity to enjoy music during the Covid times without exposing themselves to risk. Despite the drop in the number of Covid cases in the city, people are still fearful of crowds, Karan Kukreja, founder of GIFLIF, told Free Press. "Hence, we have decided to offer a risk-free musical treat to residents of Bhopal," he said.
Three bands each would perform on the two days of the fest. They would include the Indian Ocean Band. Besides, there would be an Egyptian-Iranian band which presents Persian numbers and a Kashmiri Band which performs Urdu and Kashmiri songs. The Kabir Café Band would also perform. "They have especially prepared six songs for us," Kukreja said.
The event is being sponsored by the MP Tourism Development Corporation, State Directorate of Culture, MP Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation, Dilip Buildcon Ltd. and Mansarovar Global University.
The organisers would start revealing details about the event from February 1 on the Instagram and Facebook pages of GIFLIF. "On February 1, we would reveal the logo and concept of the event. The next day we would give details of the bands and the singers," he said.
GIFLIF has been organised in the city every year in the month of December since 2016. "Last year, it could not be held due to the pandemic and we have decided to offer the concert as a replacement," Kukreja said. He said that they had started planning for the event from November last year.
Kukreja said that the event would be ticketed. "I feel that it is time to end the general perception that entry to cultural events should be free. Even if we get a relatively smaller crowd, we don't mind," he said. He said that the concept of Drive-in music concerts became popular in nations like the UK, the US, Australia, Sri Lanka and many others during the Covid pandemic as it allowed the audience to enjoy music while maintaining social distancing.
The band to perform in the Drive-in Music Festival:
Indian Ocean: Rahul Ram’s Indian Ocean band is widely recognised as the pioneers of the fusion rock genre in India. The musical style of the band can be at best classified as folk and fusion music. It is an experimental genre, fusing raga (traditional Indian tunes) with rock music, guitars and drums, sometimes using Indian folk songs. It has also been described by some music critics as "Indo-rock fusion with jazz-spiced rhythms that integrates shlokas, Sufism, environmentalism, mythology and revolution".
Kabir Café : Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café is a Indian folk fusion band known for performing songs composed out of Saint Kabir’s Dohas. Kabir Café aims to ensure that the verses of poet and Saint Kabir Das are accessible to the rest of the world. Do Din Ki Zindagi Hai, Muniya Pinjare Wali, Ghat Ghat Mein Panchhi Bolta Hai, Halke Gaadi Haako are very popular among music lovers.
Alif : The band is one of the few indie acts in the country that creates songs in Koshur, one of the dominant languages spoken in Kashmir. Their song, Ride home raises concerns that artistes have in the Valley, where livelihood is a struggle and spaces to perform are limited. It is one of the band’s most popular songs with over 2.5 million hits on YouTube.
