Autumn's golden songs

When it comes to music festivals, India may not have its Glastonburys or Woodstocks yet, but it certainly seems to be on its way. The first half of the year saw music revellers travel to pristine Naukuchiyatal in Uttarakhand for the Escape festival, the middle of the shimmering Thar desert for Ragasthan, the greenest hillocks in the Coorg valley for the Storm festival and the rocky terrain of Nashik for Sulafest. To leave Bollywood behind and soak in the best of folk and indie music from different corners of the globe, where majestic forts, picturesque hillsides and sleek racing tracks form the stage - there's still a lot to look forward to, musically speaking, till the end of the year

BACARDI NH7 WEEKENDER, KOLKATA-BANGALORE-PUNE-DELHI
NOVEMBER 1-30

They call NH7 Weekender the "happiest music festival" and for good measure, the lineup for this year's edition sure has us excited. Over 100 artists will play on six different stages in the four cities - November 1-2 in Kolkata, November 8-9 in Bangalore, November 21-23 in Pune and November 29-30 in Delhi. AIB, India's edgiest comedy collective, will play its first ever musical performance at Pune, Indo-US indie-pop act Goldspot and UK rockers The Vaccines will perform at Delhi and Pune, US metalheads Mutemath will be setting the Kolkata and Bangalore stages ablaze. Other popular indie bands slated to perform include Bhayanak Maut, Pentagram Unplugged, Indian Ocean, Raghu Dixit Project, Amit Trivedi, Blackstratblues, Monica Dogra, Soulmate, Sky Rabbit, Them Clones, Talal Qureshi, Sandunes and The Ska Vengers.

Festival pass: Rs 4,000; Under 21: Rs 2,000, Single Day: Rs 2,250; more details on www.nh7.in/weekender

ZIRO FESTIVAL OF MUSIC, ARUNACHAL PRADESH
SEPTEMBER 25-28

Hosted by members of the Apatani tribe at Ziro, a beautiful valley situated 167 km from state capital Itanagar, this four-day outdoor music festival brings with it the passionate spirit of music the Northeast is famous for. Promising an eclectic mix of sound and stories while camping out in the scenic locales of Ziro, the festival is supported by the tourism department of the government of Arunachal Pradesh and Pepsi MTV Indies, MTV's flagship channel dedicated to Indian independent music. Some of the performing acts include Madboy Mink, The Supersonics, Tank Bund, Imphal Talkies, Indus Creed, Tajdar Junaid, Suman Sridhar, Avi and The Uprising and the Naga folk trio Tetseo Sisters.

Festival pass: Rs 2,500, Single day pass: Rs 1,000; more details on www.zirofestival.com

JODHPUR RIFF, JODHPUR
OCTOBER 8-12

This edition of Jodhpur RIFF, the music festival timed to coincide with the brightest full moon of the year in north India, has in store a series of spectacular concerts and events in Mehrangarh Fort. This year's edition will have performances by the prolific musician-based community of the Manganiyars of Mewar, as well as classical stalwarts Fazal Qureshi (tabla), Dilshad Khan (sarangi) and Mahesh Vinaykram (vocals) in a jugalbandi under the starry skies. RIFF Dawns is the stage on which international rhythm, funk and jazz artists collaborate with indigenous folk artists from the country, ushering in the first rays of day. Adding some film screenings, talks, dance forms and interactive workshops to this confluence, I (along with Mick Jagger, the international patron of Jodhpur RIFF) advise you to make time for a weekend stopover in the blue city this October.

Festival pass: Rs 8,000, early bird discount till September 15; more details on www.jodhpurriff.org

THE NEW WAVE MUSICFEST: FRESH ASIAN INDIE AND PUNK MUSIC, GOA
NOVEMBER 15-16

Pitbull fans, hang on to your ill-fitting white pants, this isn't Sunburn. The New Wave music festival powered by Ennui.BOMB in its spanking first edition will be held this November on a go-karting track in Verna, South Goa to showcase Asian indie and punk. Headlining the show will be the Osaka all-female '80s punk band Shonen Knife (Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain famously proclaimed having been transformed into a "nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert" after seeing them perform live); along with Malaysia's Kyoto Protocol (who've opened for bands such as The Killers and MGMT). With just the right mix of obscure and popular indie (you know the hipster virus - it's too obscure to cure) the festival will play host to bands firing up the contemporary scene in Asia, such as Rebel Riot (Myanmar), Point of View (Dubai), The Shakey Rays, The Vinyl Records, Laxmi Bomb, Peter Cat Recording Co., Bombay Bassment and many others.

Festival pass: Rs 1,000 for 1 day, Rs 2,000 for 2 days; more details on www.thenewwave.asia