Alcheringa (festival)

Alcheringa, derives its etymology from an Australian aboriginal mythology and translates to “The Eternal Dream-time”. It was started back in 1996 and has grown bigger and better every year since.

 

 

In 2002, ‘Alcheringa: Yin and Yang’ the concept of four pro-nites was first introduced. ‘Alcheringa: Navras’ in 2006, hosted the festival’s first international act.^[10] In 2011, Alcheringa’s landmark social initiative ‘Udaan - Giving flights to hope’^[5] was started. 'Alcheringa: Gamescape' (2016) was the twentieth edition of the cultural festival.

 

 

Alcheringa features 4 enthralling pronites that encompass every genre and set the stage on fire every night of the festival:

• The classical night: Saaz
• The rock night: Juggernaut
• The Bollywood night: Crescendo
• The surprise night: Biltzkrieg

 

 

Some notable Indian artists who have earlier performed in Alcheringa are Mika Singh,^[1][3][21] Lucky Ali, Sonu Nigam,^[2] Shaan, Shankar Ehsaan Loy,^[2] K.K,^[10] Mohit Chauhan, Shilpa Rao, Javed Ali, Anoushka Shankar, Vir Das, Kalki Koechlin, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, The Indian Jam Project, Grammy winners Ustaad Shujaat Khan and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt,^[2][10][27] Undying Inc, RDB, Remo Fernandes,^[10] Raghu Dixit,^[10] Euphoria,^[10][27] Indian Ocean,^[27] Vaayu,^[27] Motherjane^[9][11]Parikrama^[10][27] just to name a few.

Alcheringa has also seen many awe inspiring performances from foreign artists. Korpikilaani, Eluveitie, Ne Obliviscaris, The Villalobos Brothers, Frantic Jack, Tiny Fingers, N-Sonic, Michael Angelo Batio and Orphaned Land have performed at the festival.

 

Competitions at Alcheringa are a massive attraction for the youth all across the nation.^[28] Alcheringa hosts over 70 competitions. With huge prize money at stake, these competitions saw an overall participation of over 4000 people in Alcheringa 2016. The competitions are divided into eight modules each concerning a certain genre of art.

Some of the landmark competitions held at Alcheringa every year are Electric Heels,^[1] the group dance competition, Voice of Alcheringa, the solo singing competition, Halla Bol, the street play competition, Rock-o-Phonix,^[1][2][8] the rock band competition, Mr. and Ms. Alcheringa,^[1] the personality contest, Crossfade, the scratching competition and Haute Couture,^[1] the team based fashion event.

These competitions have been associated with well-known artists and organisations from across the nation. The famous personality contest, Mr. and Ms. Alcheringa of 2016 was judged by Sahil Khattar and Ayushman Gupta from the Being Indian team. The competition has provided a platform to many talented models like the Miss India 2015 Contestant Praniti Rai Prakash, who got her initial success by being the first runner up in Ms. Alcheringa.

 

The Campus Princess is another beauty pageant of Alcheringa which started in its 20th edition, was conducted in association with the Miss India Organisation.^[29] The Auditions for Campus Princess were judged by Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 Ms. Srishti Rana. Mute, the Mime competition was judged by Mr Moinul Haque, the esteemed winner of the Sangeet Natak Academy Award.

For the sports enthusiasts, the 3 on 3 basketball event was conducted in association with NBA Jam in 2016. Sports module was filled with people participating in 5 on 5 football, Gully Cricket and Arm-wrestling.

There were various events for the people proficient at speaking and expressing their views like Parliamentary Debate and Zephyr. The Quiz Fest of Alcheringa,IIT Guwahati featured quizzes from various domains like India Quiz, MELA, Literature Quiz,etc.

 

 

World Carnival is an initiative by Alcheringa to promote cultures from across the world here in the North-Eastern part of the country. Alcheringa has had artists like Ciorras and Fastest feet in Rhythm from the USA, Ne Obliviscaris and poet Omar Musa from Australia,^[3][21] Fasta Duo and Murray Molloy from Ireland,^[4] beatboxer Rizumik from Portugal, rock bands Ouzo Bazooka,^[3] Tiny Fingers and Orphaned Land from Israel.

Alcheringa has also had the jazz band Tropic Green from Singapore,^[4] the Portuguese horn player Mickael Faustino,^[4] the Algeria Dance Company from Malta, Hungarian flutist David Simon and pianist Janos Palojtay, the German Classical jazz performer Mito, alternate pop music band BETTY^[7] from the USA^[8] and English hypnotist Andrew Newton and extreme technical metal band Meta Stasis.^[3][4][21]

Udaan is a social initiative by Alcheringa^[21] wherein the students of IIT Guwahati visit underprivileged children in various corners of India and light up a spark of hope within their innocent hearts. For the past five years since its inception in 2011, students of IIT Guwahati have reached out to various under-privileged children in villages, orphanages, slums, special care homes. Udaan reached 52 cities in 2016.^[5][30][31]

The underlying idea of the campaign North-East Unveiled is to promote a shared identity of this part of the country with the rest other parts of the nation while promoting its tourism, food, general practices and removing any stereotypes about North East India. This was done by releasing a series of videos highlighting the above. The North East Social Entrepreneurship Summit and The North East Townhall Discussions were held during Alcheringa 2016.^[3][21]

Alcheringa has attracted sponsors diverse sectors. With the heavy footfall it attracts association with Alcheringa is a matter of prestige. Alcheringa has in the past associated with Wipro,^[3] Hero, State Bank of India, Indian Oil, Maruti Suzuki, Ola, FastTrack, Daikin, Viber, Coca-Cola, KitKat and Baskin Robbins just to name a few.

In the media sector Alcheringa has been associated with the RED FM, The Telegraph, The Assam Tribune, Business India, North East Today, Metalbase India etc.

 

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