The festival, on the lines of those in Europe and North India, seeks to create an alternate space for free exchange of ideas and varied art forms starting from music, dance, theatre, art to magic and cinema, in a rural hamlet around 200 km away from Kolkata.
"From Hindustani classical, folk music from Bengal and Rajasthan, rebel music from Imphal, percussion band from Sri Lanka to a unique reggae-blended oriental sound from Tokyo and many more in between, the music of R2F promises to be truly eclectic," says Kaushik Bhaduri, one of the organisers.
"This could be called more an art camp in a composite form where artists will exchange, deliberate, practise as well as perform before the audience," Bhaduri said.
"From music to anti-war off-proscenium theatre, from dance recitals where classical forms will merge with the contemporary, from screening of award-winning short films with support of India Foundation for the Arts to video installation, photography display and art installation by Kala Bhavan artists and students - it will be like celebrating art in different ways," he said.
For the past 35 years, Payeng had been planting trees recreating a lush 1,360 acre forest cover on the Majuli Island in Assam, earning him the Forest Man sobriquet.
The event, having slant on saving the ecology, will witness performances by internationally known Baul singer Paban Das Baul, Parvathy Das Baul, Nathoo Lal Solanki (Rajasthan) and Chugge Khan, Sri Lankan band singer Row, Manipur band Imphal Talkies, Japanese electronic sound sensation DJ Noriko Takasaki, Jazzeando (France, India, US) along with screening of film 'Wagah' by Supriyo Sen among others.