The Holi Cow Festival was in a bigger, fatter and madder avatar this year. Over seventy artists participated in this event, ranging from international artists and bands from all over India. Held across the sprawling grounds of the Airport Residency Hotel, the festival was divided across three stages:
MOO STAGE (Amphitheater): Dedicated to Amit Saigal, this stage had great bands like Soul’d Out, Emperor Minge, Bombay Bassment, Swarathma, Soulmate, Heavens Down and Mental Kit among others.
FLEW STAGE: An eclectic stage, this had performers like JOLT, Menwhopause, Mob Marley Inc, Burqa Buoys and Al Faeda.
GLUE STAGE : Offering great Electronica music, this stage had artists like Andre Gardeja, Malana Inc, Edge Cut, Invincible Quest and Bhanged!, among others.
The event also had Moo-ving Minstrels and Madmen, like Folk-O-Rama, Band Baaja People, Moo Mama Puppet Company, Didgeridoo Docs, Pathetic Poetry Poultry Farm, and many other attractions for the guests.
The festival had many guests and revelers enjoy the festival in true spirit. Present were fashion designers like Rimzim Dadu, Nitin Bal Chauhan, and party people like Daksh Oberoi.
Although officially in its fourth year, Holi Cow Festival has been around for over six years. What started out as a small, ‘underground’ festival – celebrating Holi with music and art – has become one of the biggest festivals of its kind. From five artistes and a small audience of eighty-five people, the festival now attracts over sixty artistes and over four thousand revelers from all parts of the World.
Holi Cow Festival started with the idea of creating a happy Eco-system of artistes and art lovers who want to celebrate and express their love and passion freely without commercial compulsions. That is the reason that most artistes have volunteered to perform every year without their commercial fees. Also, part of the festivity were graffiti artists, and the Moo Mama Puppet Theatre. This year Holi Cow also offered a Moo Yatra– a colourful motorcycle parade around town with over fifty bikers, a few days before Holi to officially mark the festivities.
Holi Cow raised funds to sponsor the education in performing arts for sixty children last year in association with Fender School of Music. This year the festival hops to raise enough funds for 200 such scholarships in association with Swechha, the NGO as well as the Fender School of Music.