On the final weekend of this September, a new indie music festival under The INARA Indie is all set to make its debut in Gurugram with an impressive lineup of artists such as Osho Jain, Shrey Gupta, Mansa Jimmy and many more. Before one gets into the details behind this collective, it is interesting to note how INARA founder Ashima started this initiative out of an online fundraiser.
21-year-old Ashima is a psychology student who recently graduated from Delhi University. With her heart geared towards helping the stray dogs in her neighbourhood, Ashima initiated an online fundraiser right around the first lockdown. A dog-owner herself, she was distressed further when she realised the condition of strays as well as abandoned pets.
This is when she decided to start her own fundraiser. However, as is common knowledge, people can be quite stingy to open their hearts when it comes to any cause that requires some financial support. Determined to find a USP to attract people to her fundraiser, she decided to add a musical touch to the event. The plan was to gather a troupe of talented indie musicians who deserve a larger spotlight.
In order to find such artists, Ashima witnessed the Instagram live sessions of Bollywood composer Ehsaan Noorani. Following the pandemic, Noorani used to jam with his guitar and used to invite several young and talented artists to showcase their skills.
This is how Ashima built her network with artists like Shrey Gupta, Mansa Jimmy, Aman Srivastava, Atharva, and so on. Inviting them all as musical guests, her first fundraiser turned out to be a blast.
Now, nearly a year later, she founded the aforementioned INARA Indie after the Arabic word ‘inara‘ (that translates to a ‘ray of light’). Through INARA Indie’s music festival, Ashima aims to celebrated independent artists from all over the country and offer them a space to build their listener base.
As she puts it in her own words, ‘While coming up with the concept for INARA, our primary goals were – firstly, to create a platform for and a family of Indie artists…Alongside, we aspire to generate curiosity amongst young listeners while supporting their journey to newer heights. INARA is a small step taken by us towards achieving this goal.’
With the tickets on sale now, the INARA Indie fest also aims to be a hybrid event, with the online version also being available through a startup called MyStream.
