For a few hours on a sweltering April evening, the crowd gathered at 1AQ in Delhi immersed itself in the observation and celebration of the Capital’s rich urban ecosystem. On the final day of its three-city concert tour, the Echoes of Earth festival parked itself next to the towering Qutub Minar, with an aim to start a unique conversation around “preserving Delhi’s natural heritage for future generations.”
Following similar events in Bengaluru and Mumbai, Echoes of Earth, which calls itself ‘India’s greenest music festival’, kicked off its Delhi segment with an array of activities creatively focused on the Delhi we are missing. “The main idea is bringing in great design with technology and keeping it sustainable,” said Roshan Netalkar, director of the festival, describing Echoes. He remarked that with a theme of ‘Circle of Life’, they wanted to platform restoration as a bigger subject matter.
A still from the Echoes of Earth festival
However, Echoes is not a typical music festival. Bringing together live music and a mindful discussion to city-specific ecosystems meant that Netalkar had to go far beyond than just ringing up vendors and artists. “We did a lot of brainstorming and research with conservationists, experts, and our partners like WWF and UNEP,” Netalkar said, adding that the aim was to understand problems plaguing each city.
To that end, Echoes’ focus on Delhi’s jungles was born out of the need to conserve the natural heritage that is overlooked. “Everybody has a thinking: “ humko jungle bachana hai” (we need to save the jungle) and they think far beyond. Do we realise that Delhi has a jungle inside it?” Netalkar said.
“We thought because of the weather and pollution, the urban ecology is what we need to save and work on. Talk about humans and animals co-existing together, Delhi is the best example. It’s right under your nose,” he added. As director of the festival, Netalkar had scouted the location for Echoes weeks in advance, when Delhi was enjoying cool breezes.
Niharika Rajput conducting the workshop at Echoes of Earth in New Delhi
On April 16 however, while speaking to The Hindu right before the event kicked off, Netalkar simultaneously coordinated with his team over the temperature overheating the music equipment. This however was only the start of an evening during which Delhi’s weather hammered in the need to create more such spaces for a climate-centric dialogue.
Echoes began its Delhi chapter by reuniting the city with its long-lost friend: the house sparrow. Declared the State bird in 2012, it now rarely chirps around the lanes of Delhi. In a hands-on workshop, Niharika Rajput taught attendees how to mould a table-top sculpture of a house sparrow. A National Geographic explorer, Rajput expertly condensed a longer meditative exercise, into an easily accessible one for the audience as she went around personally guiding those new to the art form. While tiny sparrows took shape on ground, the city skyline sadly remained bereft of them.
From L-R: Shreya Bhatt moderating the panel at Echoes of Earth between Chetan Agarwal, Neha Sinha, and Rohan Chakravarty
Instead, perched on the large Semal tree was a black kite; the tree and the bird of prey both gained special mentions in the panel discussion that followed. Rohan Chakravarty (Illustrator, Green Humour), Chetan Agarwal (Conservationist), and Neha Sinha (conservation biologist) helmed a nostalgic discussion on the rich biodiversity in Delhi’s backyard. Weaving through anecdotes from Sinha’s childhood when she used to hear Jackals at her doorstep, and Agarwal’s informative speech on the changing land-use pattern in the Aravallis, the panel found its way to a rapid-fire round where Chakravarty named the brown-headed barbet as a defining bird of Delhi.
The discussion was routinely interrupted by the panellists themselves, as they stopped to point out a murmuration of starlings flying overhead or when they eagerly recalled that they had seen a troop of monkeys on the way to the venue. “A parallel city full of wildlife,” said Sinha summarising the Delhi that runs around, overhead and often away from us.
Echoes of Earth festival in full swing in the national capital
The evening descended into a night with the British nu-jazz group The Cinematic Orchestra (TCO) who serenaded the audience with their songs. Fan-favourite, To Build a Home, of course, made the setlist. The musical segment of the night kicked off with individual performances by Sijya and Sahil Vasudeva.
Flanked by a giant figure of the Sarus crane (made of reused material), the stage was set up under a Banyan tree to create an immersive experience.
“I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I had heard about Echoes and what it was, but I am so stunned by this event,” said Sijya who had also performed at the Mumbai chapter of the festival. “Just looking at the stage, and the visuals, the structures made of recycled material, it creates this earthy atmosphere,” she said of the unique setup where she had performed songs from her latest Extended-play Young Hate (2022) just a while ago.
A still from the Echoes of Earth festival
As the crowd gathered in front of the stage to hear Sahil’s melodic piano, the sky overhead 1AQ became home to an occasional bat or two, coloured purple by the stage light. It brought to mind what Neha Sinha had stated hours ago, “The rich biodiversity of Delhi is waiting for us to notice it.”
