Harderwijk
is an old town in the heart of Netherlands. It has an ancient church, cobbled streets,
quaint homes, unique restaurants and ‘LalaLand’.
Nagoa is a little village to the North of
Goa. It has an old quaint church, palm lined trees, a restaurant and nightlife
belt not too far away and ‘LalaLand’.
But the similarity doesn’t end there.
Harderwijk and the gorgeous old world setting, the venue of the Lalaland
festival has a common character. And we are not talking of The Parade, the riot
of performing arts or the adventure for the eyes and years for those of you who
attend Lalaland, in Holland or Goa.
The common character is a Dutch woman called
Noreen Van Holstein
Fifteen years ago this happened. The Lady
from the land of the LalaLand festival, Holland, moved to India with her
boyfriend, now husband, lived in Delhi and then finally made their move to Goa.
And inspired by one of the finest treasures of their land, the Lalaland
festival;, where music, art performances and creativity are showcased, put in a
mixer and juiced up, they created the Goa
version of the LalaLand.
In an earlier interview she gave to the ‘It’s
Goa’ website she explained why her family moved to Goa. “We did that because
Goa is paradise for most people and for us, especially coming from a big city
like Delhi. We did it for our children, giving them the freedom to cycle to
school, the freedom of swimming at the beach, the nature that surrounds us,
fantastic!”
The same piece mentioned that standing in the
garden of MOG (Museum of Goa) the
masterpiece created by artist Subodh Kerkar,
“she thought that it was time to create something bigger and fun for
everyone, a festival that imbibed magic and happiness. She decided to bring
together different disciplines, not just related to the arts. She just
basically wanted to give people a good time”
In a conversation with Herald Café on Day of
this year’s festival she said “To start a festival, you have to be crazy and
have everything under control. What I like about organising a festival is
bringing together social elements, cultural sphere and commercial sense.
LaLaLand Festival offers a playground to bring different art forms and
performers from all over the world,”.
This is the third edition of the festival
curated by her. “I have been living in India for 16 years and I moved to Goa
four years ago. The next step in Goa was to organise a festival. Being a
foreigner was advantageous to me as I knew the elements from Goa by working
inside and about artists from around the world, which helped in creating this
festival”, she told Café.
Speaking about her inspiration behind the
festival, Noreen was influenced by a festival from her country, “For LaLaLand,
I took inspirations from The Parade, which we have in the Netherlands. It
showcases different shows and you bring people together. I was not a part of
The Parade but I hoped to start something like that with LaLaLand.”
Donning the appearance of a Circus, Nagoa,
Arpora shimmered with the wonder of LaLaLand. And it has started, with over 20
acts and three stages, the performances will entertain with a melange of arts,
from music to poetry, belly dance and even kathak, as well as performances by
stilt walkers, jugglers, magicians, aerial and fire shows. Over two days, the
performing acts, already performed and forthcoming included or will include Madhav
Haridas, Tritha Electric, Nadia Rebello, Thalavattam Monty, Mansi Nene, Uncut
Diamonds and Oliver Perrin.
There will also be circus and acrobats, a
silent disco, world cuisine, a family corner and a secret bar. “People who love
listening to Goan folk music can also enjoy the music at the venue. We will
also be giving out free saplings at the festival,” says Noreen about Tree for
Earth. There will also be workshops on skateboarding, tie dye, ukulele picnic,
dynamic yoga, belly dance and slack lining.
So the ‘circus’ is in town. And the ringmaster is a lady from Holland.