Claiming to be one of Mumbai’s first few resident festivals, Bollywood Music Festival will be makes its debut today. The two-day fest aims at bringing all sorts of Bollywood music under one roof. Papon, who will be performing with his electronic folk-fusion band, Papon and the East India Company, says, “Mumbai doesn’t see any music festivals. The live music scene is forlorn. Which is why I am really looking forward to performing at the Bollywood Music Festival. I don’t have a definitive set as yet. We prefer being spontaneous — getting up on stage, feeling the thrill and then playing the music.”

The fest will feature top musical talent such as Amit Trivedi, Arijit Singh, Rekha Bhardwaj, Badshah, Divya Kumar and Mohammed Irfan, Shefali Alvares feat. Joe Alvares, and Shalmali Kholgade among many others. It also has a one-of-a-kind advisory panel that aims at honing new talent and introducing new ways of distributing Bollywood music.

Rapper Hard Kaur, who will also be performing at the festival, tells us more about the Womaniya segment where artists will perform a special set dedicated to women empowerment. “With the Womaniya segment, we are looking to kill it! It is all about girl power — apart from me, Aakriti Kakkar, Antra Mitra, Neha Bhasin and Vaishali Samant will be performing. It is going to be a surreal remix of popular songs - a blend of sounds and passion,” she says. “These live gigs are so important. People deserve real performances where artists aren’t miming,” adds Hard Kaur.

Bollywood Music Project will take place today and on October 1, At Reliance JIO Garden, C-WING, Bharat Nagar Road, G Block, Block BKC, BKC Tickets Rs 2,000 onwards