Where the local artiste is king

Imagine attending a music festival inside a national park or a heritage palace This is the new kind of experience organisers of micro festivals are hoping to recreate to showcase local indie talentMicro gigs are on the rise in the West and India isnrsquot far behind According to Eventbrite an event management and ticketing website micro and boutique festivals increased by 400 per cent between 2014 and 2018Post 10 pm the festival moved indoors to respect the ecosystem around CorbettA micro festival usually consists of a smaller group of peoplemdashanywhere between 200250 people in India ldquoThe lineup doesnrsquot matter in micro festivalsrdquo says Sarthak Kulshreshtha promoter and cofounder of Bengalurubased booking touring and promotion agency Bohemian Live The focus is on providing oneofakind experiences to the audience Organisers say concert goers too donrsquot mind travelling long distances to enjoy the unique vibeLocals Moon Rabbit a travelling micro festival founded by Vijay Kumar Sonia Sekhri and Siddhant Gupta had its first edition at Jim Corbett National Park on the Halloween weekend They are also founders of Locals District a boutique techno festival which is held in Kalwar Castle near Jaipur ldquoBecause of COVID19 we couldnrsquot execute it Locals District so instead we came up with Locals Moon Rabbit a travelling festivalrdquo says KumarSarthak Kulshreshtha and Vijay KumarThe micro festival will move to Goa in January 2022 followed by Kaziranga National Park or Shillong in the Northeast around March Coorg in June and Nubra Valley Ladakh later in the yearAccommodation is arranged in the same venue as the show and thatrsquos a big draw ldquoReaching these destinations can be challenging and difficult but thatrsquos what people love and want to experiencerdquo adds Kulshreshtha Kumar points out how these livein festivals have the vibe of an international festival People live there for two to three days and bond and connect with each other as well as the artistes who reside in the same premises ldquoIt is quite a wholesome and emotional experiencerdquoWhen compared to larger festivals where the focus is on getting more crowds micro fests have an emotional value attached to itYes they can be a strain on the pocket ldquoBut if you consider the festival as a vacation it wonrsquot seem that expensiverdquo Kulshreshtha says Kumar mentions how some members of the audience and the artistes at the Locals Moon Rabbit festival where a single ticket costs R4000 onwardsmdasheven booked the safaris at Corbett National ParkAt Locals Moon Rabbit the focus he says is also on providing a platform to artistes from smaller towns and cities ldquoIn our recent lineup 18 out of the 20 artistes were from Ludhiana Chandigarh Dehradun and Rishikesh among other parts of IndiardquoKumar says he initially wanted this fest to be on the lines of the Red Bull Tour Bus where the actual stage is atop a bus but ldquowe realised that it wasnrsquot logistically feasible We also wanted to target different parts of the country different audiences and artistes toordquo In order to keep the concept alive the organisers are planning to provide free entry or some perks for the next destinationBoth Kulshreshtha and Kumar believe that micro festivals are going to be the next big thing especially now in COVID times where people prefer being part of smaller gatherings ldquoOur audience has become more mature and we see this culture take off in a big wayrdquo says Kumar