Learn From Nicolás Jaar, Flux Vortex, Bint Mbareh and More at Free.wav Residency in Kerala

For a few years now, Nicolás Jaar — the New York-bred acclaimed electronic artist who’s also part of bands like Darkside — has been lending his efforts to research and education in music and sound. It’s taken him to Palestine, parts of South America and the Netherlands.

In June 2021, when Kerala-born, Sharjah-bred sound artist Nithin Shamsudhin aka Nithin Shams put out his Sonic Liberation Front mixtape via Boxout.fm in support of the people of Palestine, it also found its way to the national Radio Al Hara. Jaar’s mixtapes were also playing on there and he discovered Shams’ tape, which led to the two connecting and talking about listening practices and sonic arts.

It eventually led to the Indian artist inviting Jaar to Free.wav, the electronic music and sonic arts residency started in January 2021 at Bhoomi Farms in Kerala, a space set up by his family specifically for arts residencies. Held between March 14th and 20th by the Bhavani river in Attappadi, Free.wav is now inviting applications for their residency, instructed by Shams, Jaar, Palestine artist Bint Mbareh (who’s brought in by Jaar), producer Flux Vortex aka Aditya Kapoor, filmmaker, photographer and founder of artist platform REProduce, Rana Ghose and bassist-producer Krishna Jhaveri, from prog band Skyharbor and more recently, a co-founder of music project Ear To The Ground with Mumbai producer Sandunes aka Sanaya Ardeshir.

Jaar says about his involvement in an email, “Music education and collective practices have been at the center of my life for the past four years so I am very happy and honored to be included as one of the many invited guests of this year’s residency. The history of Bhoomi Farms is very inspiring and I am looking to learn more about this part of India and very excited to get to listen, among others, to our surroundings and to each other.”

With a program fee of ₹25,000, Free.wav is also offering partial and full scholarships to applicants. “This year 75 percent of our participants will have some kind of financial aid — from full scholarships to partial,” Shams says. 

The artist and residency co-founder notes that for their inaugural edition in 2021, they had 20 applicants and a total of eight participants, including five women. This time, the participant pool is 15 people, Shams says. He adds, “We also make sure to have diversity within the program as we want to create a space that is open and accessible for all. We encourage participation from women, non-binary, transgender, and other socially underrepresented and disadvantaged communities. No prior production experience is necessary. We want to make sure that it is not just a boys-only club, which unfortunately is the case with most electronic music spaces.”

The residency will take participants through aspects like sound design, music production, mixing, field recording and more. Among the goals for Free.wav is to organize the residency at least once a year, set up a recording studio at the farm, focus on community building and even release compilations, artist showcases and publications by residents.

Free.wav takes place at Bhoomi Farms, Attappadi in Kerala between March 14th and 20th. Last date for applications is February 25th. Sign up here. Get more details here.