KARACHI: The Solis Music & Arts Festival is scheduled to take place in Karachi this Saturday on November 16, 2019. The festival previously took place in Lahore and Islamabad, with the goal to create an impact on Pakistan’s art and music industry.
Being the country’s first international music festival, the day-long event will feature local and international DJs at the Moin Khan stadium, with the headliner being Clean Bandit’s DJ set, accompanied by other band members that will be singing along.
While discussing the kind of variation Solis will offer in terms of music, the organisers stated that the third edition will introduce a wide range of sound, ranging From pop hits by Clean Bandit to EDM with Kill the Buzzz and Turhan James, Disco and Funky House with FDVM and more tribal and experimental sounds with Oceanvs Orientalis.
However, to find out if there will be any local and international collaboration, people will have to come to the event.
The festival is scheduled to kick off at 2 pm with yoga sessions by Soul potion 42D yoga, headed by Nusrat Hidayatullah, Ayesha Omar and Momina Mustehsan. Followed by Hussain Dossa’s performance at 3:30, Maleao’s at 4:30, local artists including Neha and Turhan James at 5 and 6:30, Oceanvs Orientalis at 7:30, FDVM at 8:40, Kill the Buzz at 9:50 and Clean Bandit at 11 pm.
Sharing a statement with The Express Tribune, Clean Bandit said, “We are super excited to be in Pakistan for our first-ever performance at the Solis Festival.” Being a British electronic music band, Clean Bandit originated from Cambridge in 2008, releasing their Mozart's House which gained them a number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. In January 2014, they scored their first UK chart-topping single with Rather Be, collaboration with Jess Glynne and the song also reached number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Solis’s CEO, Shaz Hayat claims that the event aims to change the image of Pakistan on the world map. It targets the youth with an appetite for international sound and aims to unite the local DJs with international ones to bridge the gap between exposures.
He also promised that the day will be filled with nothing less than enigmatic performances. “Solis in Karachi will be our biggest show so far, and we really want festival-goers to enjoy the entire day, ranging from the afternoon yoga to the midnight dancing, our headliner is bound to bring people to the floor.”
To further explore what the festival will hold, the remaining acts also shared their views about the event: FDVM, Florent and Victorien, added to the conversation stating, “We are both so happy to come back to Pakistan and perform in the third edition of Solis in Karachi! We can’t wait to see all of you again!” While Oceanvs Orientalis said that he is inspired by the music in Pakistan and can’t wait to bring his own “I take a lot of inspiration from different music in Pakistan so I’m really excited to actually be there to perform at the Solis Music Festival!”
On a similar tangent, Kill the Buzz shared his excitement, “I am looking forward to perform my first ever show in the beautiful country of Pakistan, this is definitely going to be a great experience for me,” while local DJ Turhan James concluded by saying, “I never knew Pakistan had such a huge EDM following, and after performing in Islamabad, I’m super excited to perform at the Solis festival Karachi.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the last edition of Solis Festival did not go on without its share of woes. A woman who participated in the festival took to social media to share her account of molestation and sexual abuse, she encountered at the festival. The organisers of this year's Solis festival did not respond when The Express Tribune reached out for a comment about the possible security measures, they will be taking to make sure such incidents are not repeated.
However, according to their press release, the organisers have provided the option of purchasing tickets for a female-only enclosure, to provide a safer experience for women.
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