Ashima Sharma, Keekli Reporter, 3rd July, 2015, Shimla
Day 1
Shimla Fest has become a hub for all local budding musicians, artists and photographers to showcase their talent. This platform has been created by a group of youngsters named Unified Shimla Musicians as previously held Shimla Fests — 2012 and 2013 were equally very successful. According to the youth of the city it is the biggest youth festival in true sense as from management to organization and performances, everything is magnificently managed by the youth. This time the festival has taken a step forward to help the earthquake victims of Nepal by making it a fundraising event. The first day of the event was filled with loads of enthusiasm and fun, and look forward to this three day event where some powerful and amazing performances will be witnessed.
The program began with some breathtaking unplugged performances by Jasmine Chandla, Bhushan Kumar, Nikhil Sharma, Simple Chords and M- Khawa. The soulful performances were followed by power packed performances by Rock and Metal Bands including Desolation, Inlumine, Missing Riff, The Punk’s Chronicle from Hisar and Saadhak.
The Punk Chronicle’s, who travelled all the way from Hisar played some touching Sufi tracks and famous songs by Kishore Kumar brilliantly fused with some groovy rock beats. Talking to Amit Saravaan, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the band about their experiences in Shimla, he said, “This is the first time we are performing here and we are completely in love with the ambiance of the place. The beautiful theatre, management and sound is of superb quality. This festival has the capability of making it big in the next few years”.
Jasmine Chandla, a solo performer, who sang her original composition, Dosti and acoustic version of a famous foot tapping number Chittiyan Kalaiyaan, said “Music is the heart and soul of the youth of the city and stages like these give us an opportunity to present our talent and learn from the mistakes that we make on stage”.
The first time performers, Desolation, was formed recently by the young boys of St Thomas and DAV Lakkar Bazar, expressing their amalgamated feelings, they said, “We are a little nervous to perform on the stage as we are performing for the first time, we have worked very hard for the event. Shimla is a small city and there are very few opportunities when it comes to showcasing your talent, we are very happy to have gotten an opportunity to introduce ourselves on this stage”.
The highlight of the event was the most adorable, M-Khawaba, father and son duo. The four years old boy sang a popular bollywood number from PK and an original Tibetan composition dedicated to Dalai Lama. Talking to the father of the talented child, he said “Khawaba is very fond of singing, taking his passion for music a step further, I started teaching him how to sing along with an instrument. He is a very quick learner, now he can sing almost 20 songs in Tibetan, Hindi and Napalese along with the guitar”.
The first day of the festival concluded on a high note with satisfaction and sheer joy on the faces of the brilliant young performers!!!
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