This is just what music needs at the moment

Shekhawati has opened up to one of the newest additions to India’s music festival calender, the Magnetic Fields, a couple of days ago. The three-day fest is an amalgamation of various musical talents from all over the world with bands like Shiva Soundsystem, Peter Cat Recording Co, Midival Punditz and Shaa’ir + Func performing. We spoke to a few artistes who are soaking in the unique experience at Alsisar.
SHAA’IR + FUNC Monica Dogra,known as Shaa’ir from the duo Shaa’ir + Func, also took to the stage on Friday.“I’m a part of the Magnetic Fields family.The festival,every detail of it, has been a labour of love. We’ve given our our sweat and blood to making this happen.This festival caters to exactly the sort of thing we need at this moment in time. It’s one of the most experiential and extraordinary dream-like festival,”she says. Ask her how the vibe and the setting is, and she says, “The space is transcendental, the courtyards of the Alsisar palace reverberate with life, the evening is dense with the scent of jasmine as it envelopes you while the desert wind swirls around like a magic spell. The energies of like-minded people with similar tastes in music have come together.” Describing her performance she said, “It was a Shaa’ir + Func set that would make you sing, scream and dance.”
MIDIVAL PUNDITZ
Tapan Raj from Midival Punditz, who performed at Magnetic Fields last night came in to support friends who had embarked on this unique endeavour. The band collaborated with Rajasthan’s own, Kutle Khan, for their performance. “There were some new pieces we had rehearsed with Kutle Khan. He brought in a lot of Rajasthani folk and we mixed it with our electronic music on stage,” he said. “We’ve performed in Jaipur many times, but this is a different experience.It’s more intimate,people are staying close to each other. The setting is beautiful.We performed at the Alsisar venue for the first time, so it was nice. It’s like a weekend getaway kind of a festival, where the focus is not to just on the music, which is obviously the main thing, but one can take in the whole experience of staying at a beautiful place, close to nature. A lot of people are camping. It’s not like your festival in Gurgaon where you get out of your house, get into the car, fight traffic jams and drive to the concert venue.You come here with your girlfriend, your wife, or with a bunch of friends and you’d be camping here. It is unique.” For Tapan too it’s not a one-off-concert visit. “My wife is here, we are going to stay one extra day and enjoy the festival. Today we are going to watch other performers play, since we are already here, we might as well soak in the experience.”
SHIVA SOUNDSYSTEM
Shiva Soundsystem began about 15 years ago with underground dubstep music in London, and have performed all over the world ever since.The band took to the stage last night, and Nerm, a member, told us, “We’ve been performing in India since 2000. We performed at the Rajasthan festival last year. There is a magical feeling about performing in Rajasthan. But this festival,with a bright moon up there, it seems the entire venue has been cut out of the moon. It’s an interesting setting. The vibe is really different here. It feels kind of alien yet familiar. With the palace as the backdrop, you would think that it would be a very closed sort of an environment where not everyone is allowed,but actually it’s very welcoming. We have a lot of our old friends here, Shaa’ir and Func, Midival Punditz, so the vibe is really good. And when close friends are around, collaborations keep happening.