Bringing stories of sustainability, fun, and holiday fervour, Echoes of the Earth pumped life into Bengaluru’s live music culture.
On the 3rd and 4th of December 2022, Bengaluru hosted India’s biggest and greenest music festival—Echoes of Earth. The festival, renowned for its strive towards sustainability, drove the fervour with the theme, “Circle of Life”, celebrating the mingling of nature, culture, and fantastic live music. The groove rested in an inclusive circle of performers, artists and presenters where uncharted tales from the country’s varied landscapes, peered through tales of regrowth and tunes of symbolism.
The festival, now in its fifth year, successfully culminated into a celebration of life as a new-age audience glistening under the sparkling stages, all bleeding individuality under the common theme—to upcycle old festival materials and stages and reduce the plastic waste and carbon footprint of the event. Highlights from the 2022 chapter were Johnnie Walker’s Amur Falcon stage, the Himalayan Ibex stage, made by recycling IKEA’s cardboard and metal waste, the Budweiser Indian Red Scorpion stage and the solar-powered Big Tree stage, all throwing light on the need for the conservation of species and the vivid biodiversity.
Art and culture, fused under the umbrella of eco-consciousness gave life to the festival. Photo courtesy: Echoes of Earth
A diverse mix of over 40 local and international musicians hyped up the crowd by fusing eclectic genres like electronic, soul, world fusion, jazz, techno, blues, reggae, rock and electronica. The creative bank of artists brought together sounds of the world, charged with momentum for environmental consciousness. Performances by Hanumankind, The Lojal Experience, Anyasa, Vairaagi, Tara Lily, The Yussef Dayes Experiences, Henry Saiz & Band presents Moonlight Wolves, Vieux Farka Toure, T.ill Apes and others headlined the concept event. Following the success of the festival, Roshan Netalkar, the festival director said, “In these two days, we have witnessed the incredible energy and passion of over 20,000 people who celebrated responsibly, keeping the ethos of the festival alive. In spite of the large turnout we were able to create a zero-waste festival.”
Additionally, it featured more than 30 food booths, interactive first-of-their-kind hubs on the greener side and pop-up restaurants from all across the city so that visitors could sample a variety of delicious homegrown treats. The venue was home to over 20 locally produced sustainable labels promoting slow living through fashion, home decor and accessories at the solar-powered flea market.
Over 40 artists decked the stages of the festival. Photo courtesy: Echoes of Earth
For the past six years, Echoes of Earth has worked to be a venue where artists emphasise environmentally responsible ideologies while urging visitors to adopt a different, sustainable way of living. This year too art took the centre stage as 20 magnificent exhibits of larger-than-life installations, furnishings, and décor setups drew attention as they promoted ecological concepts and ideas to raise public awareness of the need to live more sustainably. A designated children’s area featured a variety of engaging programmes, including face painting, learning about dapo, making tiaras and asalato, as well as engaging activities like a photo exhibit and nature trails.
With an emphasis on the notion of “not just surviving, but thriving,” varied music, distinctive art and concept technology in the midst of nature were unified by the love for a clean and green future. “The love for brand Echoes grows stronger each year. It is our endeavour to innovate further and to make the festival carbon-neutral in the years to come”, Roshan concluded.
To know more about the festival, visit echoesofearth.com
This feature also appeared in National Geographic Traveller India
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