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Journalism of Courage
In its thirteenth year, The Great Indian Rock gets a bunch of foreign bands and travels to seven cities
Thirteen years ago, a festival called The Great Indian Rock began with bands from across the country competing at Delhi8217;s open-air theatre Hamsadhwani. This season, with the name tweaked a little to The Fuel Great Indian Rock, the fest will have a new avatar as it transforms into a national concert tour, spanning seven cities 8212; Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Shillong8212; with 21 Indian bands and three international acts. 8220;The festival has always aimed at providing local bands a platform to write and perform good, original music. It is not a competition anymore, it is purely bands in concert,8221; says Amit Saigal, founder of the festival.
guitarist of Freak Kitchen, which also performed at the fest last year and have been so smitten by the country8217;s rock and raga that in their upcoming album they have Indian classical musicians like flautist V Selvaganesh playing. But it is a first for Sahg and most of the Indian bands. Saigal says all that mattered in choosing them was a good, original song. 8220;It doesn8217;t matter how fast you play, it is all about good song writing,8221; he says. And with bands putting out their originals and pushing the envelope, this season seems to be bigger than ever.
