With Indiaโs world music festival, SulaFest 17 just a few days away, weโre taking a look back at the journey they have been on since they first started in the early 2000’s.
SulaFest 17 is back for another smashing celebration of the festivalโs tenth anniversary. This year, the festival is going all out with a number of artists, more booze and as always, some good old fashioned fun. So before you get a taste of the celebratory edition, weโre taking you back to where it all began.
2008
The festival had humble beginnings with a high ambition to be Indiaโs gourmet world music festival with everyย possible activity like grape stomping, camping and wine tours. Music was provided by The Raghu Dixitย Project and duoย Shaair n Funcย for the single day event. Since then, the festival has come a long way and youโll see why.
2009
The second edition for the festival saw many familiar faced celebrities like Sapna Bhavnani and Sushma Reddy to name a few, enjoying the festival as Jalebee Cartel and Agnee collaborated live on stage at the Greek-style Amphitheatre.
2010
The festival had the highest number of attendees at 4,000 in 2010. The capacity was so large that BBC Good Homes set up a makeshift shelter for the festival attendees to sit and relax away from the harsh rays of the sun. But they soon flocked to see acts like Shkabang, Ankur Tewari, Something Relevant and Teddy Boy Kill.
2011
This follow up to one of the best editions for the festival was even better with acts like Pentagram, Tough on Tobacco, Petri Dish Project, Monica Dongra and more who killed it in front of the largeย attendance. This edition was one that included the Sula Bazaar to give the people a bit more than they would expect in terms of merchandise, craft, clothing, jewellery and more.
2012
Sula Fest introduced the two-day celebration from this year and weโre glad they did! It was the first time allย tickets were sold out! The artist lineup included some internationally famed artists as well as Indian favourites like Dualist Inquiry, Nitin Sawhney, Papon, Etienne Mbappe & Su La Take, Soulmate, Blackstratblues, Reggae Rajahs, DJ Sasha and more to get everyone grooving!
2013
This was the first time an electronic music stage was introduced with the super cool name ‘Electrozone’ stage. It was placed close toย the main stage while artist like Ankytrixx, jazz artist Vivienne Pocha, Swarathma, Dualist Inquiry, metal heads Deep Forest and others performed.
2014
2014 saw the artist line up expand with acts like Shpongle along with incredible English-Indian singer Susheela Raman, The Dualers with Indian acts like Avial, Baycity Lights and Vasuda Sharma. There were only 11 music acts but they made an even louder impact on the attendees.
2015
The major key to this yearโs lineup was the inclusion of ‘Young The Giant’ to the roster. The bandโs lead singer, Sameer Gadhia made his way back to his place of birth with this appearance. Joining the band were other acts like Will and The People, Nucleya, Speed Caravan, Lucky Ali, Monkey Brothers and more who entertained the crowd overย two days.
2016
World music could be seen in every actย of the festival with theย likes ofย Kailasa, The Cat Empire,ย Kailasa, Balkan Beat Box, Dub Inc, Success, Made In Barcelona, Delhi2Dublin, Reggae Rajahs, Madboy/Mink, Tribal Flora, Rodney Branigan and Aqua Dominatrix. A collectiveย of 23 genres of music wereย covered at the festival.
2017
The highly anticipated tenth edition of the festival will be filled with much more than just wine. The line-up is the most diverse one weโve seen with music by Afro Celt Soundsystem, Indian Ocean, Nucleya, Infected Mushroom, Bloc Party, Bit of Both, Priyanjana, Your Chin, Dana Ruh, Igor Marijuan, La Bamba Di Tiempo and more.