BiG BANG! Festival of Love helps music-lovers experience village life

The festival setting in Halflong, a picturesque hill station
| Photo Credit: Courtesy: BiG BANG

A festival rooted in love, community and the preservation of indigenous traditions will be held on October 26 and 27 in a 500-year-old village with just 28 households. The BiG BANG! Festival of Love returns after a three-year gap, this time in Nandisa, Assam. It celebrates the richness of India’s roots while using music as a tool to connect with a wider audience.

Reggae artiste Delhi Sultanate of the BFR Sound System
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: BiG BANG

Founded by musician and activist Daniel Langthasa and indigenous chef Avantika Roohi Haflongbar in 2016, the festival aims to serve as a platform to highlight local economies, indigenous knowledge and sustainable living. “The BiG BANG Festival was born out of a deep love for our land and people, and to reconnect with what’s truly important. It’s about slowing down, appreciating Nature and understanding that our traditional ways of living have immense value, while addressing the realities of the modern world,” elaborates Daniel, co-founder.

Founders of the festival Daniel Langthasa and Avantika Roohi 
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: BiG BANG

The theme for the 2024 edition, ‘Village is the future’, comes from the realisation that the answers to many of today’s challenges lie in the way our villages functioned before industrialisation and consumerism took over.

A slew of activities has been planned to allow people to experience the practical knowledge that villagers live by every day.

Earlier editions of the BiG BANG Festival took place in different locations such as Haflong, Diphu and Hojai in Assam. The festival’s revival was possible because of an application that reggae artist Delhi Sultanate of the BFR Sound System made, featuring the festival for the Studio Monkey Shoulder initiative through Worldwide FM. “Roots’ music has the potential to make you feel what no popular music genre can, and this setting is ideal. I hope this will give a rich context to one of the core messages of reggae music — that of cultural resilience, unity, love and reverence for the earth,” says Delhi Sultanate.

Tipriti Kharbangar will play a live acoustic set of Khasi blues and folk
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: BiG BANG

Trombone and trumpet player Chie Nishikori will join forces with BFR Sound System as will Mumbai-based rapper-activist MC Mawali and reggae producer-DJ Ras ManMan. Tipriti Kharbangar will play a live acoustic set of Khasi blues and folk. Also on the line up are Ahimxa, a cult grunge band hailing from Haflong, and Daniel with his band Digital Suixide.

“The workshops, educational programmes and projects we’re working on are designed to have a lasting impact on village youth, long after the festival ends.