HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, DEC 26
The venue for the three-day music festival ‘Sunburn’ that gets underway at Candolim on December 27 was unveiled by the organizers, Percept Sports & Entertainment.
Joint Managing Director Shailendra Singh unveiled the venue in the presence of Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes, Managing Director Harindra Singh and Group CEO Devraj Sanyal on Sunday.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Shailendra Singh said: “The Sunburn festival has become World’s largest music festival and has been ranked as one of the ‘Top 10 Festivals’ by a news channel.”
“The response we have been receiving from Indian and International audiences over the years have been amazing. Apart from music, Sunburn has been appreciated as an experience complete with the beach, electronic dance music and some great parties,” he said.
“The new venue and the Sunburn merchandise is our endeavour to create a more immersive experience for the sun burners,” added Singh.
“With several thousand people expected at Sunburn Goa 2010, the Sunburn team in collaboration with Goa Police has taken all necessary steps to ensure a safe and secure music festival,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, MLA Fernandes said: “We have brought the Sunburn festival to Candolim to give more impetus to the shack business along the coast and hopefully it will go on well.”
Shailendra Singh later led Calangute MLA Fernandes and other guests walk the venue highlighting many new features, including a world class security arrangement spanning – 32 CCTV cameras, a two-level manned security, sniffer dogs, narcotic patrol officers, an emergency medical team equipped with a mini clinic, an onsite medical team, several medical consultants, emergency exits and watch towers.
The event will also have on call a first of its kind Disaster Management Team in case of an emergency.
The Sunburn Merchandise comprises wide range of apparels, accessories and gadgets. The merchandise range also includes T-Shirts, towels, flip flops, key chains, mobile phone covers, pens, buttons (badges), bags, caps, mobile phone chargers, laser glasses and rings.
The headliners for the Sunburn 2010 festival are Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten and Axwell, while Sultan and Ned Shepard with Nadia Ali, Richard Durand, GMS, Pete Gooding, Aly and Fila will be showcasing their talents.
A plethora of world renowned DJs like Pearl, Ma Faiza, Sanjay Dutta and others will be performing live on stage.
The ‘Sunburn’ has however been embroiled in controversy since the event started at Candolim in 2007. The Villagers have been opposing the event on grounds of noise pollution, especially to the elders, traffic congestion besides other reasons, but to no avail.
Last year, the Sunburn had a first drug-related casualty in the death of a girl, Meha Bahuguna.
