Hindie Rock Fest 2016, a two day annual, community-run music and arts festival featuring a broad array of South Asian diasporic artists was performed on the beautiful evenings of 14th and 15th of October, 2016 at the YMCA Theater in Cambridge, MA. Hundreds of music lovers from Greater Boston area gathered at the venue to enjoy performances by their favorite artists. The festival has always been a platform to showcase fresh new talent in the scene, and it continued to do so this year.

The program was hosted by the Co-founder Ms. Saraswathi Jones, who welcomed and thanked the audience and performers of the evenings. She shared the history on the growing festival with a two-day lineup of performances.  She said that Hindie Rock Fest started in 2014 in an incredible way and we are coming back by popular demand and entering its third year successfully. She also stated that the she believes art has the power to create positive social change, foster solidarity, and that change begins with each of us.

This is an alternative desi music and arts event that brings together a diverse range of artists from hip hop, punk, electronic, poetry, dance, Hindustani classical, and other forms of expression. Hindie Rock Fest started as a show in an art gallery by friends with a love for puns and shared sonic ties to the Subcontinent. It has since then grown into a community of artists and activists who share a vision of art as a platform to engage desi people and push for a transformative, liberatory change for all in an especially crucial era of civil rights activism and wide social change.

The festival’s artists are based in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. On Friday, the first night’s performers from 7-11 p.m. included Ashni (NYC), DJ Ayes Cold (D.C.), Evilartform (D.C.) , Nazar Bollywood Dance Troupe, The Shadow Notes, Raavi Malik of Brontide, and Trandcention. On Saturday, the second night, from 5 p.m., the festival showed performances by Anjali Nirmalan (poetry), Awaaz Do, Garv Bomjan,Humeysha, The Kominas, Monishita Ray (dance), Nina Bhattacharya (dance), Payal Sharma, Solaradicals and Word-Music Problems. It may have never crossed your mind to get wild at a rock concert. Truth is, Hindie Rock Fest is one of the top music festivals in the Greater Boston area and features various teams of South Asian rock bands. It’s a heavy experience where several bands have gone on to gain recognition for their rocking ways.

Ms. Saraswathi not only introduced each team to the audience with brief description of their theme, specialty and team members but also performed very meticulously her role as a master of ceremony. Hot samosas, drinks and water were arranged for the audience to enjoy while watching the music performances. Information tables were set up by many artists, activists, and music bands at the event. Ms. Saraswathi thanked YMCA for proving their beautiful auditorium for the event. She also thanked all her team members for their support and time in making this event a great success.

Mrs. Hardeep Mann said that Hindie Rock Fest is a “unique experience with the diaspora’s so diverse genres, sounds, instruments, and dances. We are blown away by some amazing hard-rock talent that we do not normally associate with South Asian subcontinent”

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