Musical stage at Jaipur Literature Festival

 Music will form a sizeable platform at the upcoming Jaipur Literature Festival with global artists playing alongside domestic performers at the event where Nobel Prize winners as well as authors and publishers from across the world are expected to attend.

Grammy winning African band Tinariwen alongside Karsh Kale, Kiran Ahluwalia, Midival Punditz and Rajasthani musicians and dancers would showcase their acts at this year's "Musical stage" at the sidelines of the five-day literary extravaganza scheduled from January 17 at Diggi Palace in Jaipur.

The festival will also have a line up of award winning authors including Nobel Prize winners, Amartya Sen and Harold Varmus, as well as Man Booker, Pulitzer, Crossword, Samuel Johnson, Commonwealth, Hawthornden, Orange, Neustadt, Sahitya Akademi, Padmashree, Costa and DSC Prize longlisted, shortlisted and winning authors.

The musical sidelight of the JLF scheduled for four days from January 17 will "fuse together global music influences in a programme filled with new sounds and pioneering dance forms," organisers said in a statement today.

On the opening day the visitors can look forward to a performance by the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, which grew globally since their debut in 1995.

Rajasthani folk expression, "The Kutle Khan Project" led by Khan, a multi-talented folk musician who has performed worldwide, is also scheduled to perform on Day one.

Following acts include internationally acclaimed dancer Colleena Shakti and Queen Harish, said to be the dancing whirling queen of the Indian desert.

Other attractions include Suhail, of the fusion act Advaita, Ska Vengers, a Delhi-based band, Gods Robots, a global collaboration between Mumbai-based vocalist ShriiK (Shridevi Keshavan) and San Francisco-based electronic music producer Janaka Selekta.

Asian Underground, Karsh Kale, Midival Punditz and God's Robots are set to pay homage to musical mentor Cheb i Sabbah, the global DJ, composer and musician who passed away in November this year. He was the festival's resident DJ and musical muse for seven years.

Nomadic band, Tinariwen in collaboration with Kiran Ahluwalia are set to conclude the show in the Pink City.

A schedule of the programme for the JLF, whose entry is free, is available on the website. Visitors can look forward to a line up of sessions.

'Story of a Death Foretold' with Oscar Guardiola-Riviera, 'Serendip' with Sri Lankan diaspora writers, 'Mahasamar' with Narendra Kohli and Vartika Nanda and a session on feminism titled 'The Essential Gloria Steinem' are among the sessions planned.

Four Booker Prize authors Jhumpa Lahiri, Tash Aw, Alison Macleod and Jim Crace are expected to attend the festival along with six shortlisted authors for the USD 50000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which will be announced during the the Festival on January 18.