In Situ:
Festival of Colors Warm Up
Tickets
About this performance
Festival of Colors: Holi NYC is partnering with National Sawdust to bring you an eclectic musical lineup to start thawing out your soul from this weird winter.
Festival of Colors: Holi NYC is a joyous celebration of the coming of spring. It is a day of revelry full of bands, DJs, delicious food, and great people. It is a time when social barriers collapse, and all are united in joyful celebration. It is a time to throw vibrantly colored powder at your friends and strangers, and dance together as one huge colorful mass of beautiful people.
“The only thoughts I was concerned with were celebrating life how the Holi Festival wanted me to. Stress from day-to-day living was vapor over a volcano. The powder became the wind beneath my wings.”
-Nekkhakhi Rayfor (Cypher League)
Q: Are we going to be throwing colored powder around?
A: Given the beautiful (and all white) nature of the venue, we will not be able to make the sort of mess that that would entail. 😉 However, we will have small amounts of the Gulaal for those who are interested to play with in a much more subdued and controlled manner.
Q: Can I bring my own colored powder to paint to throw at people?
A: No, sorry, in addition to the fact that we can’t verify that your powder/paint is safe like ours is, see above.
About the performers
DJ Vic
DJ Vic has been a professional entertainer for over 25 years. His sets span the globe focusing mostly on mixing Bollywood, Bhangra, and popular western music, he also incorporates grooves from South America, to the caribbean, and beyond. Regardless of where his set takes you, it’s guaranteed to be an engaging, unique, and most importantly fun experience.
Karavika
KARAVIKA is a New York City based chamber ensemble led by violinist Trina Basu and cellist Amali Premawardhana, exploring music of India, Sri Lanka and the Americas in a improvising chamber music setting.
Sameer Gupta
Drumset/Tabla performer/Producer/Educator/Composer.
NAMASKAR is a respectful homage to the classic hits of my parent’s generation; the immigrants who come from South Asia and bring a love of music, heritage and art, along with their memories of songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. This is for the ones who share those songs with their kids, and give them a turn at making those songs their own form of creative soulful expression.
History of Holi
Holi Phagwa is the Hindu festival of colors. It celebrates the coming of spring, fruitful harvests, unity, joy, and a tale from an ancient religious text. It is traditional to celebrate by, among other things, throwing vibrantly colored powder (Holi Gulal) at one another. In addition to the throwing of colored powder it is traditional to light bonfires in celebration of the miraculous escape of a young devotee (Prahlada) of the god Vishnu. A demon (Holika) tried to throw him into a fire, but he escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion.
One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, sex, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Additionally, Holi lowers the strictness of social norms. No one expects the decorum of normal life; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement and joy.
We encourage you to learn as much as possible about this wonderful holiday and the stories/cultural underpinning behind it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi is a good start, but their is a wealth of information to be had.
Other International Week Events
In Situ: Ljova and the Kontraband
In Situ: Festival of Colors Warm Up
Summer Labs: Sugar Vendil, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, GLMMR (David T. Little + David Adam Moore): Book of Dreams
Bokanté ft. Members of Snarky Puppy
