Contemporary music festival Alboe by the Beach is the latest addition to India’s growing music festival circuit. Announced as a three-day festival to be held on the sandy beach of Varkala, in Thiruvananthapuram, Alboe by the Beach is an exciting offering for discerning music fans not just in Kerala, but around the country.
“Homegrown contemporary music festivals have sprung up across India, covering folk to electronica, jazz to indie, but we still didn’t have a music festival on the beach, and Kerela afforded us the perfect opportunity with its stunning coastal line and talent,” said Vishnu Shyamaprasad , founder of Alboe by the Beach. “We envisioned the festival as a platform to highlight the country’s incredible musical talent, which often is under-represented and also introduce people to the Kerala’s cultural heritage in a fun-filled environment like an experiential festival,” he adds.
Artist lineup for Alboe by the Beach Vol. 1
Apart from the obvious attraction of surf – Varkala is India’s premier surfing destination – and sand, Alboe by the Beach has announced a power-packed lineup that includes South India’s hottest hip-hop acts Brodha V and Arivu, multilingual singer-songwriter Taba Chake, Chennai quartet indie rock band The F16s, and rising stars that have set the music landscape abuzz with their talent and sound.
Hip-hop is the fourth-most listened to genre in India on Spotify, a fact that Alboe by the Beach celebrates. It has on its line-up some of Indian hip-hop’s most explosive new talents. Like Baby Jean, the rising hip-hop and drill rapper from Malappuram, who was signed to Mass Appeal India in 2023; MC Couper, a name that reverberates within South India’s rap community, for his effortless ability to tame a language as hard as Malayalam to hip-hop rhymes; Tamil rapper and lyricist Paal Dabba who is known for his playful wordplay and rhymes, and emerging ballsy rap sensation from Meghalaya – Reble, who has even appeared on Boiler Room. Joining them is Kerala-born, Texas-raised, Bangalore-based rapper HanuMankind who is known for his razor-sharp commentary.
Bangalore-based bands, Pineapple Express and Space Is All We Have will bring their prog-fusion and ambient electro-rock sounds – respectively – to the sandy stage alongside other Garden City talent like singer-songwriter Mary Ann and indie electronica producer Sunflower Tape Machine. Popular DJ and surfing enthusiast Paloma Monappa will also be there with her bag of sunny tunes.
Also joining these acts will be homegrown talent and local stars like indie pop sensation Jeremiah De Rozario from Kochi, Bangalore-based singer-songwriter Frizzell D’Souza and Wayanad-based rock band Matadori.
More additions to the lineup will shortly be announced. Follow festival updates on Instagram.
It’s not just music that attendees have to look forward to during the festival weekend in February. Planned as a beach carnival, the festival will include multiple, Instagram-friendly art installations designed by local artists, offer a variety of beach games for attendees, and serve up plenty of lip-smacking delicacies – local and international – to fuel the hungriest of music fans. The festival will also feature an extensively curated flea market focusing on regional and indigenous art and handicrafts, and festival merch.
With a strong focus on sustainability and limiting its environmental impact – especially given its location – Alboe has declared itself as a plastic-free festival with no plastic allowed on site.
Alboe by the Beach is a three-day beach, music festival in Varkala and presented by Lacuna Pictures. Tickets for the three-day beach festival are priced at upwards of Rs 1049 for a daily pass and Rs 2099 for the whole weekend.
