His festival is a mini Woodstock in itself for alternative music junkies. From the Black Mountains in 1994 to this year in Goa on April 14-15, The Big Chill festival which started as a Sunday chill-out and social club night at London’s Union Chapel founded by Pete Lawrence is like a Mecca for music devotees. “I was invited over in late 2005 by a woman who had a vision to bring The Big Chill to India. We could both see the incredible potential of a unique event in a country which was moving forward very fast on a creative level,” says Pete, a well-known DJ.
The festival also takes pride in presenting the most eclectic music from around the world. Some of the musicians being featured this year include World musician Sheila Chandra, Shri (of Shri and Badmarsh fame), DJ Norman Jay, The Bays and many more. “Talvin used to be a regular in the mid ‘90s. At the time the whole Asian fusion thing was really kicking off. There’s a lot I could say about Talvin but should probably remain tight-lipped, especially in regard to what he got up to at my wedding reception. Shall we just leave it at ‘popular with the girls’?” he laughs.
Pete cites Ananda Shankar and AR Rahman as his biggest influences, besides listening to some authentic Indian classical music. And for Pete, The Big Chill is life. “Our
biggest strength is that we weren’t born out of an obvious commercial enterprise. This was a bedroom operation run by two of us with no finance in the early days.”
k_shridevi@dnaindia.net
