Nature, conservation and rock music: Here’s all you need to know about Nature inFocus festival | Bangalore News

The festival is themed around ‘Sustainable Today for a Better Tomorrow’, which will focus on topics around climate change and sustainability, with a special highlight on saving tigers can save forests too, in line with celebrating 50 years of Project Tiger.

“When you conserve a tiger reserve, it doesn’t just mean that you’re conserving tigers, it means that you are able to conserve the whole ecology of that forest. That is why we are stressing about protecting these areas because by saving tigers, you are able to safeguard a large forested area,” said Rohit Verma, founder of Nature inFocus.

The festival is hosting a number of sessions and guest speakers, including Dia Mirza, Actor, Producer and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador, Nitin Kamath, Co-Founder & CEO of Zerodha, Founding Director of Rainmatter Foundation, Vani Murthy, Composer and Urban Farmer, Vance G Martin, President, Wilderness Foundation Global Founder/ Co-Chair, Wilderness Specialist Group (IUCN), Nyrika Holkar, Philanthropist and Executive Director of Godrej & Boyce, Bittu Sahgal, Environmental Activist & Founder of Sanctuary Nature Foundation, Gargi Rawat, Environment Reporter, Vishwanath Srikantaiah, Water Activist and Educator and Ullas Karanth, Conservation Zoologist and Tiger Expert.

The topics of discussion range from The Tiger Project and Role of Philanthropists in Conservation to the possibility of sustainable life in the Anthropocene, among others.

On the sidelines of the festival, the Indian Ocean rock band is all set to enthrall the audience Saturday evening. Artists Amit Kilam, Sushmit Sen, the late Mr Asheem Chakravarty and Rahul Ram began their musical journey in the 70s and today, more than thirty years later, the band has new members, new albums and some numbers even associated with wildlife and conservation.

“I think amongst all of us, it’s Amit who is a very passionate fan of all things jungle and wildlife and conservation…he’s a very good photographer as well,” says guitarist Nikhil Rao. He added, “We want to attend the event not just as musicians but as people who want to enjoy nature being in the presence of fellow nature lovers.”

Their songs also reflect the deteriorating condition of the environment and sometimes about nature and celebrating its grandeur. “It is not a conscious decision to make efforts to write music that goes beyond the generic themes. The band relates to its experiences and the themes that they all love,” said Rao.

‘Ma Rewa’ one of their most famous songs, stemmed from an experience of one of their band members, Rahul, who was involved in the Narmada Bachao Andolan Movement in the late 80s. Another example is the instrumental/vocal track, ‘Jungle’ that’s part of their new album. Its origins stemmed from the experiences of late Chakravarty who was writing music for a play ‘Music without any message’. The songs were made to just praise nature and see it in all its glory.

For more details on the event, you can visit Nature inFocus website.