Echoes of Earth 2024 is back this weekend with seasonal melodies

Considered one of the greenest festivals in the country, Echoes of Earth is back with their seventh edition this year. Themed Symphony of Seasons, this year’s show revolves around the seasons and their role in our environment.

As always, the musical line-up will see artistes from around the world and India, and across genres, perform at various zones at the venue. For this edition, each zone depicts a season as well as genre with the Big Tree Stage earmarked for spring and the Electro Live Stage for summer, with winter at the World Fusion Stage and the monsoon over at the Electronic Stage.

Each zone will be embellished to reflect its respective season and as always, in keeping with the sustainable practices of Echoes of Earth, all the decorations and props for the event have been created out of recycled and reused material. All the installations have been designed keeping in mind repurposing for upcoming editions of the festival.

Glimpses of previous editions of Echoes of Earth
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Some of the participating artistes this year include Yin Yin from The Netherlands, Mount Kimbie from England, French 79 and Kid Francescoli from France, Recondite from Germany and others, apart from Indian names such as Shubh Saran, Hamza and Rajasthan Folkstars, Tarun Nayar’s Modern Biology and Excise Dept.

The child- and pet-friendly festival which is in collaboration with Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, will also debut a 360° immersive sound experience at the Big Tree Solar Stage this year.

Nature sounds

Among the many artistes performing at this edition of Echoes is Bengaluru-based Premik Jolly, popularly known as Prematron. In his set titled, Prematron presents Seasonal Soundscapes, the artiste will be offering an unusual set of nature sounds and field recordings, blended in with music.

A regular act at Echoes, Premik says he and his team wanted to craft something unique for the festival that was in keeping with its theme. “I wanted to do something that represented a change in seasons. In India, we have a harsh winter, blistering summer, and gorgeous monsoon — of course, in Bangalore, you get all three in one day; sometimes even four,” he laughs.

Prematron aka Premik Jolly special arrangement
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“We decided to crowd source and put out word that we were looking for sounds such as a flock of birds on a hot summer day, a bonfire during winter, rain and thunderstorms and the like, that represented a change in season or what the seasons meant to them.”

The response, Premik says, was overwhelming. The team received over a gigabyte of sound files that were recorded on a mobile app.

“We picked out the most usable ones that resonated with the concept, and audiences are going to experience a live set with my synthesizers, guitar and electronic percussive instruments.”

Premik is not only excited about his sketch, “which is going to be really different from what I’ve done before,” but also his zone. “All this is going to take place under this huge, really old fig tree. There is no stage, and it looks like it’s blended into nature.”

“The beauty of a live set is that nothing is pre-planned; everything is constantly evolving. The crowd is feeding off the music and I feed off the energy of the audience — it is a constant loop and the sounds are going to morph into each other. There’s never a moment of silence.”

Glimpses of previous editions of Echoes of Earth
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Premik who founded Threinody, one of India’s first trash metal bands, has been a busy part of the city’s electronic music scene. “I was in my early teens when I started experimenting with sounds and got into electronic music. I am self taught and was lucky to have a few friends who were DJs; I’d lug my synthesizer and accompany them on their gigs,” says the artiste, who now teaches electronic music production.

With close to an hour’s worth of content Seasonal Soundscapes will meld right into the festival vibes.

Echoes of Earth in on December 7 and 8, at Embassy Riding School. For details and ticket bookings, visit www.echoesofearth.com.