At Las Vegas this weekend, The Life is Beautiful festival will unfurl to a show of great music, food, art and inspired social change.
With music festivals existing by the thousands, and the social movements that are bearing fruit the world over, simultaneously, more and more festivals are exploring the idea of conversation-fueled music festival experiences, so attendees can walk away with a prolonged idea, in addition to the extravagant experience. A TED-talks meet art display, would be an apt way to put it. One of the leading frontrunners of such an idea is the Life is Beautiful Festival.
At the world’s quintessential party capital, Life is Beautiful brings together exceptional musical talent, art displays, and speakers delivering talks that extend from their life experiences to social change. The Sherp decodes why you must make it to Las Vegas for its 2015 edition.
Message
The Life is Beautiful festival was kickstarted by Rehan Choudhry as a medium to exhibit inspired conversation through exemplary features of music, art and social talks. Several prominent artists make their way to Life is Beautiful each year to engage in an exclusive creative congregation making for a burst of artistic mélange.
Givers
Each year, the festival ties up with bodies of social movements to inspire change through its gathering. This year too, Life is Beautiful has tied up with several organisations of repute in order to courage emphatic discourse. Some of these are –
Best Buddies : An inclusive volunteer movement, it fosters one-on-one relationships in order to integrate leadership and employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.
Love Hope Strength : Through this organisation, all attendees to Life Is Beautiful have an opportunity to be enlisted in the National Marrow Registry, free of charge.
Three Square : The hunger relief organisation, Three Square aims to provide wholesome, nutritional meals to non-profit, non-faith based organisations and schools.
To Write Love On Her Arms : A non-profit organisation, aimed to bring back hope and cheer to people trying to overcome depression, addiction and suicidal tendencies.
Music
Life is Beautiful, along with its positive mantra, brings the best of musical talent to the fore, combining some magnificent mainstream names with some incredulous independent talent. Here are The Sherp’s picks of the lot –
Kendrick Lamar
The world must agree that Kendrick Lamar is quite easily one of the brightest rap artists of his generation. Not only is the man capable of great lyrical brevity, but his ability to stand up for issues that plagues black culture in America is seriously notable, given how rap music has lost its true genesis somewhere in the popularity scale. Lamar sings songs that matter, while carefully climbing the charts of commercial success. All this while his latest album, To Pimp A Butterfly has received rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is a musical legend, unlike one ever produced. And that reason alone must warrant you to check him out stat. The singing of thespian of old school is not just the winner of 25 Grammy awards, but also someone who has risen to be the stalwart of world music culture, not just American. Highly respected by everyone in the industry and beyond, he lends a certain grace to the festival’s 2015 lineup.
Chance The Rapper
Chicago homeboy Chance The Rapper is making the right noises in commercial rap circuit with his stylistic take on definitive rap music. He tends to fuse it seamlessly with jazz, electronic and house outtakes along with singing vocals to create a more cohesive sound. After the critical and commercial success of Acid Rap, where he incorporated several other artists and producers to create one hell of a mixtape, he’d be one artist to check out.
Hozier
Having appeared in the music scene only two years back, Hozier boasts of strong musical ingenuity, which has propelled him to headliner status at several festivals this year. The soulfully morose music he propagates, propelled by his intense performances at several festivals have made him the new favourite crooner. Fans of soft, alluring music often find themselves gravitating to Hozier’s emotionally fueled renditions, so he’s someone you ought to check out when in need of that genre.
Run The Jewels
This American hip-hop duo has a pretty interesting rise-to-fame story. But what’s even more interesting is the stories their songs have to say, their unabashed take down of some moral code and the manner in which they continue to challenge some hegemony almost haphazardly. But what’s more important to note is the live wire that the pair is when performing live.
Art
Along with the music is a slew of art installations, graffiti work on display, helmed by brilliant radical artists from around the world, making the festival resemble one large art gallery. The installations are not just works boasting of creative finesse, but also incredibly spell-bounding.
Food
Life is Beautiful brings together food vendors of delectable excellence, both local and gourmet. Each of them dish out cuisines of exquisitely variant fare, coming together with a food collective that makes Life is Beautiful one of the more deliciously curated gatherings.
Social talk
The most credulous aspect of Life is Beautiful is the social conversations that dominate the festival. Discourses are held with social innovators, champions, businessmen, activists and technologists on various topics that are prevalent in the cultural sentiment. They not only touch upon where their respective fields are headed and the visible changes in trend, but also participate in discussions that can reshape the world to a better future.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot
Mood
People who throng to Life is Beautiful are all equally invested in its message as much as its musical offering. It’s incredibly ingenious for a festival to inspire social change whilst simultaneously offering the best kind of entertainment there is. The result of this is a well-rounded festival, that caters to the idea of social and cultural responsibility, simultaneously. Thereby, the general mood at Life is Beautiful is positively affirming and agreeably warm, making it a happy festival to be at.
(All Images source: Life is Beautiful Festival Facebook)