The waning winter marks the beginning of the most exciting phase in India’s cultural calendar, when countless festivals and events catering to varied interests and genres, held in all corners of the country, jostle for your time and attention. Amongst the unmissable ones this season are the Jaipur Literature Festival, Jaisalmer Desert Festival, Odisha’s .FEST and, for the first time ever, Lollapalooza India. Also, in the MC Recommends spotlight this week is a limited-edition rum made of pure cane juice and a pair of headphones that pushes the boundaries of sound performance.
On till January 29, the festival is being hosted alongside the FIH Odisha Hockey Mens World Cup 2023. Celebrities like Disha Patani, Guru Randhawa, and Amit Trivedi will perform at the festival. There’s also a curated lineup of culturally-immersive experiences—a food festival, classical music and dance performances, a night bazaar and flea market, and a photo exhibition delving into the urban history of Bhubaneswar, one of the first planned cities of independent India. You could also attend the Bhubaneswar Festival of Storytelling which has sessions on poetry, short stories, folklore and more.
At the other end of the country, Rajasthan is gearing up to host the 44th edition of the Jaisalmer Annual Desert Festival from February 3-5. The hauntingly beautiful sand dunes of the Thar Desert will serve as the venue for the three-day cultural extravaganza, offering a chance to soak in the majestic traditions and inherently rich heritage of the erstwhile royal state. Besides Kalbeliya dance and folk music performances by local artistes, the festival will also see a lineup of live shows by the likes of Salim Suleiman, Ankit Tiwari and the Raghu Dixit Project. Activities around Astro Tourism and Border Tourism are also on the cards, while for art enthusiasts, the Handicrafts Bazaar will exhibit the exquisite crafts of the state. The ‘Dine with Jaisalmer’ initiative is particularly interesting, as it’ll host guests at the homes of local residents for a scrumptious thali meal. For a dose of adventure, expect camel rides, motor paragliding and a helicopter ride for a bird’s eye view of the magnificent Jaisalmer Fort.
The 16th edition of JLF, on till January 23 at Hotel Clarks Amer, will host 350 speakers from around the globe, with the highlight session being Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah in conversation with British publishing legend Alexandra Pringle. To celebrate the diversity of languages, the festival is also displaying works in over 20 Indian and 14 international languages.
JLF has hosted over 2,000 speakers and a million book lovers from India and the world in the course of a decade and half. In recent years, it has also gone overseas, with international editions in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Qatar and the Maldives.
JLF has expanded beyond literature to become a showcase of culture as well—this year’s Music Stage will host independent artistes such as Peter Cat Recording Co, Lifafa, Kabir Café and others, while the Festival Buzzaar will exhibit a range of products from homegrown brands, artisans and craftspeople.
India may have been one of the largest producers of sugarcane in the world for ages, but it is only now that a premium cane juice rum has hit the market. A one-of-a-kind rum from the house of Piccadilly Distilleries, Camikara is the first pure cane juice rum from India and is available in limited batches for domestic and international markets.
Matured for 12 years in ex-bourbon, American oak casks, the glossy golden-brown liquid is bottled at a strength of 50% ABV, with no added colours, caramel, sugar or flavours, making it a 100% naturally aged rum. A sipping rum, it is best enjoyed neat to savour the depth of its flavour and character.
Camikara is available in a limited edition of individually numbered bottles. While the US has already pre-booked 1,200 bottles and the UK has gone ahead with 400 bottles, around 800 are allocated for Europe. Of the remaining stock, 800 will be distributed to the rest of the world, while only 400 have been bookmarked for India—making this first batch a truly rare addition to your collection.
Born in the peak of the alternative counterculture of the '90s, this festival changed the live music landscape forever. Today, it is globally synonymous with an alternative lifestyle, music and culture with inclusivity and unique experiences at the core of it all. After creating seven iterations worldwide in the USA, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France and Sweden, Lollapalooza is now set to make its Asia debut in India.
Slated to be hosted on the last weekend of this month in Mumbai, Lollapalooza’s first India edition promises to be electrifying with an impressive lineup of over 40 artistes spanning a range of genres—from indie rock to EDM and everything in between. Headlining the festival on the first day is American alt-rock band, the Grammy Award-winning Imagine Dragons, known for chartbusters such as Radioactive, Thunder and Believer.
Day 2 will star 90s American rock band, The Strokes along with electronic dance music giant, Diplo. Opening acts on the two-day festival include Indo Canadian Punjabi rap sensation AP Dhillon, Hong Kong-rapper Jackson Wang, electronic artistes such as Zhu, Apashe and Kasablanca, as well as Indian indie favourites Prateek Kuhad and Madboy/Mink, among others.
The latest upgrade to Sony’s 1000XM series of on-ear wireless headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM5 is their best noise cancelling gadgets yet. The industry-leading noise cancellation technology is enhanced with two processors that control eight microphones for unprecedented noise cancellation that keep out more high and mid frequency sounds than ever—covering a whole range of sounds from people’s voices to airplane noise! The headphones also come with an auto NC Optimizer that automatically optimises noise cancelling based on your wearing conditions and environment.
The sleek fuss-free design includes a specially designed 30mm driver unit with carbon fibre domes that improve high frequency sensitivity for more natural sound quality, and a Fine Sound Resistor that ensures clear, consistent sound. Comes with four beamforming microphones and an AI-based noise reduction algorithm that precisely isolates your voice for crisp call quality.
