Music Malt | culture, festivals and more

Sula Fest February 3rd, 4th and 5th, Sula Vineyards – SULAFEST It’s time to make your way to Sula Vineyards in Nashik as the country’s most awaited Gourmet World Music Festival is waiting for you! SulaFest celebrates a decade! To make it even bigger and better – the festival has not only added a 3rd day but also a 3rd stage! Starting off already on Friday the 3rd of February making this year a 3-day affair, introducing the Tropical Stage with Electro-Acoustic music! As always, SulaFest showcases the freshest artist line up – presenting more music genres than any other festival in India – with everything from reggae to techno! Adding to the great line-up, are as always wine, drinks, food, shopping – and this year the organizers are focusing on your health having RAW Pressery cold pressed juices on board, yoga sessions at sunrise and even a run on Sunday morning – 5th February! Cecilia Oldne, Global Brand Ambassador and Vice President - Marketing, Sula says, “Wow – it’s

Benny Dalal and Neeti Mohan go unplugged with MTV Unplugged Season 6 Benny-Neeti go unplugged with ‘Bang Bang’ for Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged Season 6 Singer, song-writer, music composer Benny Dayal is joined by the extremely talented Neeti Mohan on a brand new episode of Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged Season 6 this Saturday, 28th January at 8 PM only on MTV, as they take some of the peppiest songs and give them a unique acoustic twist! In what can be called as the most upbeat episode on the show this season, the dynamic duo will be seen recreating some of the most happening songs of recent times including the foot-tapping dance number ‘Bang Bang’, ‘Sau Aasmano Ko’ from Baar Baar Dekho and Locha-e-Ulfat and many more! To give you a sneak peek at what’s brewing for this Saturday, here’s a quick video that will allow you to witness unrelenting musical energy as Benny and Neeti take over Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged Season 6. Edited by - Debjani Hazarik

"Saware" by Anupama Raag and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Times Music releases “Saware” the ultimate romantic track by Anupama Raag and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, featuring renowned actor Kunal Khemu and Femina Miss India Grand International, Vartika Singh. Times Music has released a one of its kind romantic song of the season “Saware” graced by the soulful voices of Anupama Raag and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The music video starring Bollywood actor Kunal Khemu and Miss India Grand international 2015 Vartika Singh was shot amidst the imperial grandeur of Old Lucknow and depicts the tender love story of a small town couple The profound lyrics and composition by Anupama Raag breathe life into the magical love tale. In the words of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan “The heartfelt lyrics by Anupama Raag was one of the obvious reasons why I agreed to sing Saware with the very talented lady herself. I hope people enjoy listening to the song as much as I enjoyed working on this.” The composer and lyricis

Winning band gets a chance to meet John Shanks in L.A. The winner to go to LA and meet John Shanks, the celebrated Grammy Award winning Music Producer. Performing bands now have an opportunity of a lifetime to fly to LA, the land where dreams come true, and meet one of the most celebrated music producers and Grammy Award winner, John Shanks. Artist Aloud, along with Indi.com have collaborated to give wings to one performing band, with their Artist Aloud L.A. Calling challenge, hosted on Indi.com. Further commenting on the association, Divyansh Bajpai, Co-Founder, Indi.com India said, “Indi is a full-fledged video platform that provides bands a safe space to host their content and conduct engagement initiatives. In the talent vertical, we feel this challenge will showcase not only that the talent pool in India is roaring to go, but also that true engagement can be achieved by utilizing Indi’s unique set of tools. We are delighted to collaborate with Artist Aloud to extend a golde

Zee Jaipur Literature Festival WHAT? Zee Jaipur Literature Festival WHEN? 09:00 – 09:45, 19-23 January 2017 WHERE? Front Lawns at Diggi Palace, Jaipur As a whirlwind of literary figures prepare to descend on the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, an eclectic mix of music artists are set to perform morning and night at the five day literary extravaganza. The music performances will take place at two locations, the Front Lawns at Diggi Palace in the morning and the Music Stage at Hotel Clarks Amer in the evening, as part of the world’s largest free literature festival this month, January 19-23, 2017. Opening the festival on January 19 is the Shillong Chamber Choir, marking the beginning of five days of festivities at Diggi Palace. The choir shot to prominence when they won reality TV show India’s Got Talent in 2010, the same year picking up three gold medals at the 6th World Choir Games. Their wide range of repertoire from western classical favorites, to rock hits and Khasi folk

SulaFest 2017 WHAT? SulaFest 10th Edition WHEN? 3-5 February WHERE? Sula Vineyards, Nashik SulaFest is back in its 10th edition even bigger and better! This year’s artist line-up befits a true “World Music Festival” with the freshest acts – as always, a mix of nationwide and internationally celebrated artists! ‘Bloc Party’ will make their much awaited India debut as one of the headliners of the 10th edition of SulaFest! After 16 years as a band, countless world tours, awards and four studio albums - Bloc Party, the indie rock band from London makes its way to India for the first time! They will play tracks from their recently released album 'Hymns'. Their track 'Love Within' was declared as the 'Hottest Record in the World' by BBC Radio 1 and they have been nominated for awards at NME, MTV Europe Music Awards, PLUG music awards, GLAAD music awards among others. The very popular ‘Bloc Party’ have sold over 3 million albums worldwide!! Another headl

MTV Unplugged Season 6 WHAT? MTV Unplugged Season 6 WHEN? 14 January, 2017 at 8 PM WHERE? MTV, MTV BEATS and Viacom18’s digital platform VOOT Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged is back with a smashing new season to take music entertainment to newer heights with the best ever line up including musical maestro A.R. Rahman, fan favorites Shreya Ghoshal and Amit Trivedi, the music man of the moment Badshah, hitmakers Sachin-Jigar and Benny-Neeti amongst others. To make an already great season even better, Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged Season 6, along with debuting on MTV on 14 January, 2017 at 8 PM the show will also air on MTV’s brand new Bollywood music channel MTV BEATS and will also be available on Viacom18’s online platform VOOT. The show, which is now in its sixth season has been extremely popular with the viewers since it first aired on MTV. The new season is all set to roll in, MTV has lined up a whole host of 360 degree promotional activities including radi

ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 Man Booker Prize (2016) winner Paul Beatty joins a host of other award-winning writers at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017. Celebrating writers from across the globe with a diversity of ideas, languages, and nationalities, the festival continues to host some of the best regarded and loved names, ranging from Pulitzer and Sahitya Akademi Award to Man Booker Prize winners. Attracted by the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival’s international reputation and the beauty of Rajasthan in January, writers come from across the world to take part in the 5-day celebration of literature. This year sees a host of Man Booker winners and nominees including the current and first and only American to have been awarded the prestigious prize, Paul Beatty. Hip-hop poet and novelist Paul Beatty was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2016 for his caustic satire on racial politics, 'The Sellout', in which he ‘plunges into the heart of contemporary American

Riders Music Festival 2017 WHAT? Riders Music Festival WHEN? 18-19 February, 2017 WHERE? Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium Grounds, Delhi Red FM, India’s leading FM network announces the revised dates for its new IP ‘Riders Music Festival’ which was postponed due to demonetization. Earlier scheduled for 3rd and 4th December 2016, the festival will now take place on 18th and 19th February 2017 at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium Grounds, Delhi. The festival will enthrall audiences with live performances by some of India’s most iconic and popular artists such as Amit Trivedi, Lucky Ali, Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill, Hari & Sukhmani, Kutle Khan, Voctronica, Local Train and many more to keep Delhiites excited all throughout the weekend. Commenting on the announcement of new dates for Rider’s Music Festival, Nisha Narayana, Red FM COO said, “In our endeavor to offer newer experiences to our listeners, we are thrilled to announce the new dates for Rider’s Music Festival. We are optimistic th

 ‘Mhaari Re Mangetar’ featuring Alaa Wardi  Maatibaani’s latest creation ‘Mhaari Re Mangetar’ featuring Alaa Wardi set to release on the 10th of January! Another virtual collaboration by MaatiBaani, this time inducing a Middle Eastern twist to a classic Rajasthani folk song. The creators of the globally culminated album ‘The Music Yantra’, MaatiBaani, have done it again with their new song ‘Mhaari Re Mangetar’ set to release on the 10th of January! Another social-media led collaboration, this time featuring internationally popular artists from the Middle East and Australia, MaatiBaani has brought together different cultures to give a new and funky twist to the age-old popular Rajasthani folk song. ‘Mhaari Re Mangetar’ features the internationally renowned acapella artiste Alaa Wardi from the Middle East effortlessly covering lead and background vocals and two innovative artists from Austaralia; Lindsey Pollak playing an instrument made from a rubber glove and Zaia Kendall c

Macklemore, to perform his first ever gig in India at Gionee Vh1 Supersonic WHAT? Vh1 Supersonic WHEN? 10-12 February, 2017 WHERE? Pune Renowned Hip-Hop artist, Macklemore, to perform his first ever gig in India at Gionee Vh1 Supersonic Powered by Budweiser. Vh1 Supersonic, introduces a new genre, Hip Hop, to the festival.  LIVE Viacom18 sent Indian Dance music fans into a happy frenzy with the announcement of the first headline act of the 2017 Edition, Eric Prydz. Going in for an encore, Vh1 Supersonic is all set to become an international multi-genre music festival with its announcement of the second headliner, none other than the American Hip Hop Legend – Macklemore. Grammy Award Winner and Superstar of Hip Hop Macklemore is one of the most popular Hip Hop artists of the generation. He’s not just won the hearts of his many fans, but with the release of his album with Ryan Lewis, won 4 Grammy awards in 2014, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song and