Neptune
Chapotin, the founder of World Mouth Harp
Festival of India had a vision to establish a project for mouth harpists from
around the world to meet, interact, perform and share information about the
ancient musical instrument. With the third edition of the festival that will be
held on January 30, 2015 to February 1, 2015 at Blue Pyriamids Skaska Beach
Shack, Arambol, Neptune is overjoyed with the development over the years.
“In the first year of the festival, we had 18 acts
with 12 bands and 150-200 people in attendance. The second year had 26 acts
with 15 bands and a jump of over 450 people for the festival. This year, we
have 45 acts with nearly 35 bands. The festival is a combination of mouth
harpists who show interest in the festival and those who I came across through
my network. We have genres right from tribal music to house deejays who will
feature the harp and will be true to our concept,” says Neptune.
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Neptune
is a mouth harpist and a traveller who, on his personal quest, has travelled to
different countries to learn about the culture and traditions of the mouth
harp. “The essential is that every band or group
that gets on stage to perform should have at least one mouth harpist playing
with them in their music, to demonstrate the versatility of the instrument as either
traditional or contemporary.”
There will be two stages for performances right from
12pm to 10pm with continuous acts. Besides live performances, the festival will
also feature workshops and demonstrations. A cultural focus will be on mouth
harpists from different parts of India in which the instrument is traditionally
made and played in Indian Folk and Classical music. There will also be an emphasis
on active collaboration and improvisation between Mouth Harps and all other
instruments, for the pure beauty of jamming and creating something new, and for
establishing a recognised place for
the Mouth Harp as an accompaniment and/or solo
instrument among contemporary musicians in India.
Another
unique characteristic about this festival is that it is literally open to all,
the audience, the bands and performers. “I have a network of nearly 150 mouth
harpists and bands. I clearly mention that since this is a participant driven
festival, they will not be paid for their performance or their travel and stay.
Those who show interest and are available, eagerly perform here to share their
music. Everyone is open to give donations,” says Neptune.
Elena
Shishigina, a representative from the Republic o Sakha (Yakutia) in Siberia,
will be coming to explain the Harp through demonstrations. The harp is the
national musical instrument of the country of Sakha.
