“We just released a brand new album, from which we will be playing a selection of funky party jams at Mahindra Open Drive. But we will of course also be playing the old hits from our previous albums. We like to get straight into the party mode with happy dance tracks, and build up the show as we go along, including some improvisation and jamming – it all depends on the mood of the day/night,” said Brooklyn Funk Essentials who will be performing for the first time in India at the Mahindra Open Drive which is a cultural outreach initiative by the Mahindra Group.

 

This 2-day destination festival includes a road trip beginning in early November from five Indian cities – Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Bengaluru – culminating in a music and food festival on November 8-9 in Goa.

 

 

 

The festival will feature a mix of international and local artists including headliners ‘Chico and The Gypsies’ who would accompany world and folk music sensations Raghu Dixit, Harouna Samake, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, and Nikhil Dsouza. This eclectic mix of artists will embody the soundscape of the festival and complement the culture and ethnicity of Goa as a community.

 

 

 

Festival-goers can pledge monetary aid to a cause they believe in and draw attention to NGOs and partner organizations actively involved in making a difference at the fundraising initiatives that will precede the festival.

 

As for the entries, Mahindra Open Drive is a one-of-a-kind festival where you have to earn an invite. This can be achieved by buying donor passes – with the contributions going directly toward one of the partner NGOs chosen by the festival-goer.

 

“It’s a pleasure to be playing at Open Drive. Goa has always been an inspiration. A source of joie de vivre.The gracious folks at Oran juice and we have had a long-standing relationship and we are glad they thought of us when programming this festival. I can’t wait to get there,” says Raghu Dixit, of Raghu Dixit Project, Contemporary Indian Folk Band.