The North East Festival is back for its fourth edition this year and promises to be bigger with the newly added rock music contest for college bands and others from Delhi. The three day festival, from November 4-6 will be held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, aims to promote the splendid culture from the North Eastern states – including food, music, dance, handicrafts, fashion and much more. The theme for this year’s edition is ‘Connecting People, Celebrating Life’.
The rock competition for this year, titled ‘North East Festival Rock Battle’, however, was organised at Dilli Haat on October 28 and 29, wherein 60 bands performed.
There will be music performances from musicians like Papon and Zubeen Garg, DJ Zaeden, rapper Borkung Hrangkhal and rock bands like Traffic Jam, Fourth Element, Reverse Tragedy, Mo & The Shooting Stars and many more.
Last year the crowds were enthralled by several acts including Shillong’s music legend Lou Majaw – with his legendary denim shorts and all. Check out his cover of Bob Dylan’s 1974 classic, Forever Young, on Sound Plunge Profiles Season 1:
This year, the festival will witness an art workshop with 20 young artists of northeast, live art, a photo exhibition capturing the natural beauty and wildlife of the region and interactive games.
Since plenty of tour operators and tourists are expected to attend the festival, one of the core objectives will be to promote tourism in the region, according to Shyamkanu Mahanta, chief organiser of the festival.
Around 100 entrepreneurs from the region will exhibit products from the northeast titled as ‘Make in North East Exhibition’. Along with this, all stakeholders there will be will be indulged in talk sessions on key issues that are affecting the region.
Mr. Mahanta added, “This year we will be holding a seminar on flood and erosion that affect the region. Experts from IITs across the country will discuss about the Brahmaputra to find a permanent solution to these issues along with stakeholders of NER.
“The seminar will be presented by Water Resources Department, government of Assam and will see participation from various multilaterals and the central government. Assam Tourism will be presenting a seminar on ‘Awesome Assam’ with tour operators across the country. There will be discussion on sports, B2B meets on tourism and many more,” he said.
