The ASEAN Indian Music Festival Experience

Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Seher presented the first ever ASEAN Indian Music Festival in New Delhi.

Delhi's iconic Purana Qila got lightened up as the first edition of ASEAN-Indian Music Festival kick-started on Friday and ended on Sunday. It witnessed Shankar Ehsan Loy's power-packed and refreshing performance. The event was organized by Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Seher to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-Indian dialogue relation. The theme of the event evolved around, "Shared Values, Common Destiny'' and aimed to improve cultural influences and tie up between ASEAN member states and India.

Heritage Meeting Arts & Culture

The event was organized in the lush garden of Purana Qila under the moonlight lighting up the Quila, creating an extravaganza ambiance for music lovers and giving a beautiful picture of ''Heritage meeting Culture". The venue grabbed a lot of attention from the photography enthusiasts. The three-day event that started on 6th October, concluded on 8th October was kept ''free for the public" aiming to bring music lovers from all walks to get together to celebrate life, happiness and of course culture and music from the other countries. The event hosted five native bands and ten others from ASEAN countries.

The Line-Up

The three-day fest started with a performance by famous international bands "The Ugly Band'' from Myanmar, ''Cherpen'' from Malaysia, and ''Tim De Cotta'' from Singapore followed by top Indian bands like Avial and Papon LIVE. The festival also witnessed performances by famous bands like ''Kong Sothearith'' (Cambodia), ''Red Bamboo'' (Vietnam), 'L'alphalpha' (Indonesia) followed up by the performances from renowned Indian Bands like ''Bipul Chettri'' and ''The Raghu Dixit Project" on October 7th, 2017. The gala event continued to wow people on the third day with some stunning performances from ''Nam Fon Indee'' (Lao PDR), ''A Band Once'' (Brunei  Darussalam), "Asia7'' (Thailand), ''The Ransom Collective" (Philippines) with ending on a very energetic mode by the performance of our very favourite trio ''Shankar Ahsan Loy".

Music Has No Language

The bands from ASEAN countries performed in their regional language showing their vibrant culture. Though language tried to play a barrier emotions couldn't let the barrier rule. A great connection was seen between the crowd and audience where the crowd was seen dancing on the music from different countries. As it is said ''Music knows no language", it was actually seen in the event where crowd connected with the singers from different bands through their lively music.

The crowd went gaga over the power-packed performances of singers from Bollywood music industry. Whether it was Papon singing his famous track Phir Le Aaya Dil or it was Raghu Dixit performing his famous songs representing the Southern part of India, the attendees enjoyed the every single bit of it.

The crowd was seen in a relaxed mode, chilling out with their friends and near and dear ones, sitting on the grass and enjoying the music from across the globe.

The Organizers

Talking about organization Seher, it was co-founded by Sanjeev Bhargava in 1994, with the aim to bring out classical art to the general public. In a conversation with Sanjeev Bhargava about his venture and event he tells us, Seher is all about thoughtful and imaginative initiatives and aims to organize cultural, innovative dramatics that beautifies the outdoor spaces whether it is Fateh Sagar lake Pichola in Udaipur, Purana Qila in Delhi or Trafalgar Square in London. The whole thought behind this event is to democratize the culture where people are welcome to join at any time and can sit at any place.''

He further added, '' The main aim of ASEAN festival is to connect different countries which never get an opportunity to perform whether it is Brunei, Thailand or Indonesia. The theme of fest is to cater music to all so that's why the entry is kept free. In my opinion music cuts across barriers, cuts across classes and that's what keeps me moving."

L'alphalpha, the band from Indonesia represented their culture through their songs and attires, they told us '' We are happy to perform at such a prestigious platform. We performed in our regional Indonesian language and of course English. We connected to the audience through the feels and emotions of our songs. We tried to showcase our culture through our songs that bind the crowd with us even more strongly."

Bipul Chettri, a singer-songwriter of Himalayan Folk music also shared his experience," It's a pleasure for me to be a part of this wonderful event. The ideology behind the whole event is another amazing point that makes this event more special, where you have singers singing in their regional language, expressing themselves through their own mother tongue. I represented my place where I come from, Darjeeling through my music. I called it Mountain Music because it has the essence of Darjeeling in it with a touch of contemporary. I am really honored to be a part of the event which has such valuable morals."

In short, this event was a great way to experience both music and beautiful fort.The environment only adds to the experience.