Hornbill Music Festival 2023 Lineup Announced: Ananya Birla, Los Rolling Ruanas, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and More

The long-running Hornbill Music Festival – part of the larger cultural event Hornbill Festival in Nagaland towns Kisama and Kohima – will bring over 40 Indian and international acts between December 1st and 10th.

The 24th edition of the music festival includes pop artist Ananya Birla, Nagaland’s favorite pop-rock act Alobo Naga and the Band, local indie-rock acts Trance Effect and Papersky, plus Bengaluru-based singer-songwriter Frizzell D’Souza, socio-politically and eco-conscious band Rain In Sahara and Grammy-winning artist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt performing a special set with Nagaland Ensemble.

International acts booked to performed include Colombia’s Los Rolling Runas, known for blending elements of their local peasant music with different genres from Latin America and the world. Native American storyteller and dancer Larry Yazzie is also on the bill, making for a different art performance at Hornbill Music Festival.

Jazz-informed guitarist Adil Manuel Collective, singer-songwriter Anouska Maskey, guitar ace Arenlong Longkumer, pop-punk act Street Stories, singer-composer Bawari Basanti and more too join the queue to perform at the Hornbill Main stage at the Naga Heritage Village in Kisama, with proceedings kicking off from 5 pm onwards each day. Entry to the music festival is free.

The festival is put together by Nagaland’s Task Force for Music & Arts (TaFMA). The organization’s chairman Theja Meru says in a statement, “Hornbill Music Festival is one of the centerpieces of the Hornbill Festival. This year we are hosting a total of 800 plus artists from India, USA, Germany, Colombia & South Korea besides our artists from Nagaland who will take to the stage.”

He added, “Once again we have kept the artists lineup a mix bag of different genres and there is something for everyone. Consciously we have worked to have a healthy mix of female acts or bands to be more inclusive in our choices of artists and bands. In all there are around 12 female-fronted or led bands. These numbers do not include the artists who are performing for the opening and closing ceremony of the Hornbill Festival.”

Over the years, the Hornbill Music Festival has consciously moved into a multi-day event that invites more international artists, looking beyond rock and metal – which was a main draw tied to the erstwhile Hornbill Rock Contest.

Past headliners at Hornbill Music Festival include Bengaluru-based heavy metal/hard rock band Girish & The Chronicles, rock act Perfect Strangers, Israeli act Tiny Fingers, Sikkimese hip-hop artist UNB, funk rockers Gingerfeet, Nagaland’s rock act Polar Lights and more.