Whenever news about a music festival on concert hits the wire, the buzz is focused on the line up of musicians or headlining artist set to play. However, for Homegrown, one of the most exciting aspects of ‘Far Out Left’ Electronic Music Festival, a two-day boutique dance-music experience, is the venue is it being held at–– The Great Eastern Mills in Byculla, a structure built in 1839.
The organisers of Far Out Left have great reverence for the venue. “High ceilings, aged wooden beams, cast-iron columns and exposed brick and stonewalls, all restored with minimal intervention, present a charming backdrop to a magnificent ensemble. It all inspires an overarching feeling of stepping into a delightful world of treasures making it a fresh venue to explore,” says Bhishma Sagar, director of Regenerate Music, “an electronic music promotion and artist management agency based in Mumbai.” In collaboration with Social, Regenerate Music is bringing to Bombay not only an avant garde musical show, but also a sense of pride in Indian heritage by choosing The Great Eastern Mills as its venue.
In fact, the 176-year-old space is a reflection of Mumbai’s music scene as Regenerate Music sees it. As the underground music industry of Mumbai has had to face a degree of indifference, The Great Eastern Home has flourished despite years it wasn’t celebrated for its beauty. “We were on the look out for a boutique venue which fits the unique sounds we were going to curate. Eventually we had to go back to this venue I discovered about 5 years ago, this is when we were figuring out where to host an outdoor party. [sic] Which eventually turned out to be By The Pier. Such gigs weren’t a possibility at GEH [The Greast Eastern Home] then. Luckily things are now resolved and we couldn’t think of a better place to host FarOutLeft,” says Bhishma.
Now, this gorgeous space located in the heart of Mumbai’s textile district, that has survived the trials of Indian independence and the tumultuous political history that followed, is now a “celebrated store, displaying fine furniture, art and collectibles in what once were the giant warehouses of a bustling mill.” The Great Eastern Home is set to open its doors for the alternative sounds that will come out of ‘Far Out Left’ on November 10 and 11, 2018. The merits of this music festival are not limited to its venue alone–– renowned artists like Aurora Halal, Zokhuma, Mathew Jonson, Wolfonacia, and DJ Nobu.
Bhishma says that ‘Far Our Left’ doesn’t want to its legacy to be that of an ordinary music festival –– he hopes it builds a community. “We would want people to experience the creative surge that the electronic music scene is going through at the moment along with a sense of belonging to a community of music enthusiasts, and generally just people they can relate to,” he says. The Great Eastern Home will be graced with two stages–– an indoor antiSOCIAL stage and an outdoor stage–– to allow festival-goers to experience different vibes; and it’s only fitting that The Great Eastern Home, a cultural hotbed, is chosen to showcase the high level of art, musicality, and talent that Mumbai has to offer.
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