Crew's performance was followed by
the headline act of the day - Jungle -
a performance for which the whole
amphitheatre arena stood up and cheered
in unison. By then, even the relentlessly
dedicated techno listeners from the
Atmosphere stage had gathered near the
main stage to witness the band's India
debut. Jungle's groovy set brought about
a soulful end to the first day of Sula Fest
2019 - a day predominated by the sound
of futuristic soul-funk and world music.
If Day 1 of the Sula Fest was dominated
by global artists with their blend
of futuristic music then Day 2 bred
more familiarity as local artists took
the centrestage. The former inspired
jubilance while the latter dipped
everyone in nostalgia. Together they
transformed Sula Fest 2019 into an
unlikely fusion of the past and future
of music. Day 2 commenced with
some chill, ethno-world music belted
out by DJ Mike Akida as the crowds
gathered in and by the time Mumbai
based producer duo Paraphoniks took
stage the groove for the day had been
set. The stage set up took for Italian
reggae band -Forelock and Arawak- took
some time and in the meantime rapper
Smokey The Ghost and DJ Malfnktion
kept the audience engaged. Forelock
and Arawak, whose performance relied
more on showmanship than innovation,
kept the audience tapping their feet
intermittently but failed to stand out
in a line-up of remarkable performers.
While the reggae group tried every
bit of trick from the mystery box to
regale the audience, we ventured to the
Atmosphere stage to dance to the liquid
funk mixes of Oona Dahl. Her relatively
small but loyal base of fans dancing
next to the stage would agree when we
say that the German DJ's performance
would go down as the most underrated
performance at this year's Sula Fest.
Following Oona's performance we
once again headed for the main stage
where Austrian rockers Mother's Cake
had started belling out high baritone
songs with Led Zepplin-esque bass
riffs. More people maneuvered towards
the main stage by this time, more to
secure their seats for Gully Boy Divine's
performance than to hear psychedellic
renditions of Mother's Cake. Still in
our post-performance interaction
with them the band expressed no
regrets and maintained that their solo
experience in India as overwhelming.
Familiarity breeds contempt but not as
far as Indian audiences are concerned.
So, it was no surprise to see Divine's
performance attract more eyes and
ears than any other performance at
the Sula Fest 2019. The desi rapper too,
lived up to his reputation by giving out
a wholesome music experience to his
listeners, with a bunch of new tracks
from the upcoming Zoya Akhtar movie
added to his set. There's not much to
be said about Divine's performance
apart from - he came, he sang, and he
conquered. Only a musical maestro
and legend of the likes of Shankar
Mahadevan could have followed a
performance as powerful as Divine, and
he did so with awe-inspiring ease. Sadly,
the writer couldn't witness Mahadevan's
complete set but whatever he saw did
leave him breathless for a while. With
that, we signed off from the 12th edition
of the Sula Fest, bundling a swaddle
of beautiful memories and hoping to
return next year for some more.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
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