I’ve been meaning to tell you about this for ages now so here it is. In the last week of August, Ladakh is going to be the extraordinary venue for a totally unique music confluence. The Ladakh Confluence 2009 brings together music, art, nature, culture and a whole lotta love in one of the highest, purest environments in the world. The festival manifests itself from August 28-31 near the historic capital of Leh, on the banks of the Indus river with the Trans-Himalayas smiling straight ahead. The musical line up boasts of Talvin Singh, Bauchklang, Davide Swarup, Gateways, Rahul Sharma, Ortal Pellag, Rodney Branigan, Rajasthan Roots and Roberto Narain – just for starters.
Wondering, “Er… what’s a Confluence?”
- (n.) Any running together of separate streams or currents; the act of meeting and crowding in a place; hence, a crowd; a concourse; an assemblage.
- (n.) The act of flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams; the place of meeting.
What’s Up?
Their latest update says, “Things are shaping up well – ticket sales are on their way, lots more artists are on board and will be announced shortly, the festival site is coming together beautifully and the good word is on the street.”
To kick things off, they”re opening up a first round of workshops/conversations/demonstrations (free for all Confluence attendees).
1. BEATBOXING & VOCAL GYMNASTICS WORKSHOP by BAUCHKLANG
Learn how to produce an entire orchestra of sound using only your vocal chords!
2. CHHANG-MAKING LESSONS
Local Ladakhis teach you the art, science and drinking culture of the oh-so-important Ladakhi barley brew, ‘chhang’.
3. MOMO-EATING CONTEST
”Nuff said. Come with big hunger!
4. LADAKHI DANCE
Learn how to move ‘n shake, Ladakh-style!
5. TANGKHA ART
Watch a live demonstration of this intricate, ancient art-meditation, and hear the stories behind the magic.
To sign up for any (or all!) of the stuff above, send an email to share@theconfluence.in with the subject line: “WORKSHOP SIGN-UP”
and be sure to include:
– Your full name:
– Your email address:
– Name of the worshop(s) you’d like to attend:
You’ll definitely see my friend Swaati Langeh there who’s spent the last several months of her life organizing this. Hopefully she’ll be smiling just like this the whole time 🙂
The info you need: Tickets/Travel & Accommodation
Tickets to The Ladakh Confluence ’09 are now available online. Don’t miss the ‘Early Yak Offer’ – 5 Tickets for the price of 4!
4-day festival tickets are priced at 5,000rs ($100) per adult, and are available online.
A 4-day pass gives you access to the Confluence festival site each day at 10am, and includes all performances, workshops, lectures, activities and events at the Confluence.
Travel, accommodation & food are extra – if you’re going el-cheapo, you’ll need a minimum budget of 25,000rs ($500) for this trip, so plan accordingly.
Leh has plenty of accommodation options, and can hold around 7,000 visitors at once. Choices of accommodation range from a couple of swanky 5-star hotels to sweet, simple, inexpensive Ladakhi family homestays. Check out accommodation listings, tariffs and contact details at Ladakh’s official government site: http://leh.nic.in/Tourism.htm.
The confluence website is: www.theconfluence.in and you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter @Confluencefest too. 🙂