The sound system wasn’t the greatest. A lot of feedback happening, the artists complaining that the monitors sucked.

Individual reviews:

1. Jalshaghar – A Hindustani jazz/fusion band from Pondicherry (I think). They were good altogether. Very tight – played typical ‘world’ fusion music. The drummer, the saxophonist and the keys were trained more in jazz. The sarod player and the tabla player were the Hindustani touch. Although the jugalbandi between the sarod and the sax was interesting, altogether there wasn’t anything too unique about Jolshagar. There seemed to be distinct Hindustani moments and distinct jazz moments. The instruments are tight but now they need to experiment and move beyond the world music tag.

PS: The tabla player was quite hilarous. Standing up in resignation, complaining that the monitors were too terrible for him to continue.

2. Hulivesh: Folk dance involving crazy dancing tigers. The little kid tiger was fun to watch. The body art and costumes were nice – but the crazy dancing went on for a bit too long. A story line would have made it more interesting.

3. Lounge Piranha – A post-rock band gracing a ‘world music’ fest with their presence. But something was wrong this time. But their first few songs just seemed off. The guy in the grey shirt with curly hair – Abhijeet? – was going off a lot. The flute prodigy Pervez squeaked his way into some song too. That didn’t work.  Things started to sound better when white shirt guy – Kamal? – took over vocals and Shalini came on bass.  Then things sounded better. George Mathen on drums was, as usual, awesome. The humour was there, slightly lamer than usual. But something was wrong. I’ve heard them at B-flat, in a smaller, more personal space. They were way, way better there. Perhaps it was the amphitheater? The music didn’t seem wholly interesting or original either. I think we’ve reached a post-post rock stage!

4. Prakash Sontakke group: This fusion group had AMAZING percussionists last year. 4 guys making awesome, awesome music. This year, it was anything great. Prakash Sontakke on slide guitar played the same old fusion. Then came his award winning Canadian friend – Pradhan (?) Michael Johnson weilding a guitar in a kurta and a strange topi. He sang some completely non memorable songs. The only memorable part of the show was a verbal jugalbandi between the drummer and the tabla player.

5. Bharat Sargam and group: If you have Indian blood in you, you will HAVE to raise your hands and thrust your hips to the qawalis of the Bharat Sargam group. These guys got the crowd going crazy! They spoke in simple Hindi and were understood by the majority of the crowd. The must-have qawal, Mast Qalander, was performed, although it wasn’t the best rendition I’ve heard. The accompanying instruments were surprisingly tuneful. They weren’t the best qawals on the planet – but they knew how to please the crowds. They strangely played some Bollywood tunes and Daler Mehndi instrumentals. Crowds went mad.

6. Vayali – Kerela folk music surviving on the USP of having no string instruments, only bamboo instruments. Duplicate of last year. Need to innovate. They were followed by drummers from Kerela too – Aadum Pambe got the crowds going again!

7. Low Rhyderz – hip hop and reggae! God nooo! Please noo! They’re Bangalore song was the only passable song. But please please please – no! No hip hop and pseudo-reggae next year!

8. Bharat Mata Nach Kud Baja – Old folks trying to play music after watching their instruments rust for many years. Thats wat these guys sounded like. The first song was out of tune – the bass and guitar weren’t going. The rest of it was uninteresting. A waste of time.

9. Kyle McCloud and Hayley  Sabella – greeted the morning with a prayer. The guy’s vocals kept going off, but the girl had a pleasant voice.

Feedback to Fireflies: If you organize an annual 12 hour music fest, you have to make it better with each year. More thought has to be given to the line up. You can’t have good artists only in the first half – and bring crappy artists for the morning hours. People have come from miles away just to listen to the music. Subjecting them to bad or passable music in the morning isn’t okay. It’s torture! Also, you can’t bring the same artists back year after year. There are a lot of extraordinary musicians in the country – who would happily play for Fireflies.

And please – say no to Indian hip-hop!