Three glorious musical evenings followed literary musings at the Jaipur Literature Festival, with the 15th Jaipur Music Stage ending on an exuberant note yesterday.
The three-day event featured diverse performances by singer-songwriters and musicians across an eclectic mix of genres from fusion rock to folk music.
The third day of the Festival featured the winners of the Songdew contest, Xubaan, who brought their unique flavour of music drawing from a wide range of influences such as reggae, jazz, funk and progressive rock; Ali Saffudin, a gifted singer-songwriter from Srinagar, Kashmir, alternated between tender, heart-wrenching ballads and power-packed, folk-punk anthems; and Ankur & The Ghalat Family, a Hindi rock project led by frontman and singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari, along with Gaurav Gupta, Sidd Coutto and Johan Pais. Tewari has composed and written lyrics for multiple feature-length films, including 'Guilty', 'Yeh Ballet', and the blockbuster film 'Gully Boy'.
About his performance, Ali Saffudin said, “This platform provides an engaging opportunity for multiple writers, poets, and artists in the fields of art, literature, and music. Just like every other year, we’ll begin with a series of Ghalib's, followed by a wide range of Kashmiri poetry.”
Ankur Tewari shared his excitement on being part of the Jaipur Music Stage, saying, “Literature and music do go hand in hand, so to have a music stage at the ‘Kumbh of literature' adds more gaze for all its attendees in a post-pandemic world. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there haven't been any opportunities to perform so it’ll be an ice candy to relive the magic of music at the Jaipur Music Stage. ”