Come September and this small town tucked away in the mountain-scape of the Lower Subansiri district of the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh comes alive with music. Hundreds of people from across the country and some from abroad throng Ziro Valley, a quiet town the rest of the year.
Having heard of the Ziro Music Festival for a while now, it was almost a crime that I hadn’t yet made it to the festival even when it was in its eighth edition already. It was two weeks to the festival and I had to make my plans fast. Lucky for me that a few of my friends were a part of a camp site and agreed to host me.
A 2.5-hour flight got me to the transit point, hot and humid Guwahati. I wanted to be up in the mountains as soon as I could. An overnight train journey and I was in Naharlagun, the only railway station in Arunachal Pradesh. It’s another 100 kilometres from here, someone in my train compartment said, but little did I know that it would take a torturous six-hour drive in an eight seater Tata Sumo. Tucked cosily in the centre seat I started my journey from Naharlagun Railway Station around 6 am in the morning.
I was accompanied by seven other passengers – two couples and three boys. They were all from different parts of India, yet the energy was great and we all shared the same vibe. As someone rightly said, music brings people together. Just 30 minutes into the drive, we were captivated by the hypnotic natural charm of Arunachal Pradesh, peppered with sprawling rice fields and rolling green hills veiled under thick layers of vibrant flora. It was a dreadful drive but we weren’t concerned about the road anymore.
The venue
We reached Ziro Valley after six hours. For many visitors, just like me, it was not only about the music festival but the experience of being amidst nature and getting a close peek into the culture of the locals. Many chose camp sites over hotels and home stays. I stayed with Kite Manja, which hosted close to 220 odd guests this time. It was basic living but the energy in the camp site was amazing. I met people who had come from as far away as the UK.
Without wasting much time, I headed straight to the venue and saw the production team finishing the last bit of work. There were two stages. The night stage looked enormous while the day stage looked magnificent with the mountains and rice fields setting the perfect backdrop. The view of the setting sun only made it look better. Surely, the production work surpassed my expectations considering the logistics that must have gone into organising an event of this scale.
This year, many people were looking forward to the performance by Lucky Ali who was supposed to do one of the headlining acts. And there were others, like the Japanese psychedelic band Acid Mothers Temple. Going through the line-up for the four days, I realised the festival offered pretty much something for everyone. Like this 14-year-old musician, Rohan Singhal, who is touted to be the blue-eyed boy of the country. I spent the next couple of hours taking a stroll around Ziro Valley and speaking with the locals.
The local culture
It didn’t take me too long to realise that this small town had the potential to be one of the most sought-after travel destinations in North East India. What made attending the Ziro Festival even more interesting was being able to photograph the Apatani tribe.
Apart from the lush green mountains, the pine-clad hills and rice fields all around, Ziro Valley is home to one of the major ethnic groups of the eastern Himalayas, the Apatanis. I read on a UNESCO site that the Apatanis have a distinct civilization with systematic land use practices and rich traditional ecological knowledge of natural resource management and conservation, acquired over the centuries through informal experimentation. I did stumble upon a few of them during my village walk that afternoon and was fascinated by their face tattoos and massive nose rings. The tradition, though non-existent now, dates back to pre-modern times.
Ziro is included in India’s Tentative List for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site.
On day two, I started my day early. I was told by many seasoned campers and locals that I should visit Hong village, supposedly one of the largest villages in Asia. It took me an hour to reach this village from the camp site. I saw many bamboo huts, the traditional Apatani homes, empty and some in ruins. I could sense that modernisation was slowly gripping the village since many concrete buildings seemed to have replaced bamboo huts. What used to be a place dotted only with bamboo huts had almost the same number of concrete buildings now. I photographed the old village and made some portraits.
The performances
After spending a couple of hours there, I went back to the venue. By the time I reached, the venue was packed with people – more outsiders than locals. I realised it was a festival meant for outsiders. The first performance I watched was a local ensemble from North East India comprising artists from Manipur and Assam. Soulful yet a powerhouse of a performance. I tried some local cuisine and the rice beer.
Day 3 was fun and started really early for me. I accompanied a few fellow campers and hiked to a placed called Tao Tibe to meet an ageing couple who were in their late 80s. They had made this place their home since 1968. If stories are to be believed, the couple walked up the mountain peak almost five decades ago in search of a place to farm and ended up settling there. I could see the home surrounded by lush green vegetation. It turned out to be a place that was totally worthy of a visit.
They say there is something about the air in the mountains. Having spent almost all day here, I was still pumped enough for the evening. And why not? It was Lucky Ali performing the headlining act. I reached the venue right on time, just as the performance started. There is something about Lucky Ali’s performance. For those who grew up in the late 90s, his music spells pure nostalgia. His Indie-pop sound reminds you of your growing up days listening to some of his favourite numbers on a cassette player.
I shot his live concert and met him backstage too. This was my second meeting and he did remember meeting me earlier in Bangalore while I was reporting for a city-based tabloid. For the next one hour, he enthralled the crowd with an energetic, power-packed performance.
I spent the better part of the last day visiting a few more villages around Ziro Valley and made a lot more portraits of the Apatanis who were mostly seen working in their fields. As I walked back from the shoot that day, I realised how we have completely forgotten to enjoy the spirit of living as one with nature. Attending this festival was indeed liberating.
Nishal Lama is an independent photographer currently based in Bangalore.