Christopher BarrettGlastonbury Festival will for the first time see the creation of a dedicated South Asian performance space, created and built by a South Asian team.
Located in the longstanding Shangri-La Glastonbury area of the festival, curated and created by a team including Continental Drift’s Chris MacMeikan, Arrivals will be a new space delivered in collaboration with South Asian cultural organisations Dialled In, Going South and Daytimers.
The stage has been designed by Shankho Chaudhuri, Esha Sikander and Shirin Naveed, and will feature the work of illustrator Osheen Siva. It will be set in an immersive setting, that Shangri-La’s organisers have described as “a portal to an alien jungle planet, immersed by an audio visual world coded in solar punk, carnivorous plants, cyborg beasts and space pirates.”
Artists set to perform on the new stage include DJ Ritu, Anish Kumar, Gracie T, Manara and Nabihah Iqbal.
Going South and BBC Asian Network presenter and DJ Bobby Friction said, “This is a seminal moment for UK festival culture. South Asian and British Asian music have had their own small festivals over the years and some Asian artists have performed in the big gatherings that are now a quintessential part of a British summer, but a full-on Glastonbury space dedicated to South Asian music, beats and DJs for the entire festival? That’s just crazy and a personal dream come true.”