In Focus: DIALLED IN
Dialled In Festival 2022
Launched in 2021 to address the lack of opportunities for South Asian creatives in the cultural industries, alongside a recognition that such musicians were being adversely considered via the homogenising forces of Bollywood and bhangra, Dialled In is an artist-led platform, elevating remarkable talents from the region via its broadranging calendar of concerts, club nights, festivals and mentorship schemes.
“We saw that artists from South Asia weren’t able to express themselves in the ways that they wanted, that they deemed important . Now we encourage them to come and express themselves however they please,” explains Dialled In co-founder, Dhruva Balram. “So, if you are a South Asian punk, rapper, doom metal artist or an electronic musician, there is a space for you here.”
This progressive approach has resulted in some superlative collaborations with artists that are both established – Anoushka Shankar, Four Tet and Ustad Noor Bakhsh – and emerging – Anish Kumar, Gracie T and Haseeb Iqbal. Dialled In are ardent devotees of the disparate, constantly on a quest for the diverse, original and inventive.
“Bands and musicians looking to work with us, we have an open email address – submissions@dialledin. com – where people can just submit their music. We listen to everything, to check if it’s the right fit for a particular gig line-up,” says Balram.
“Go through the bills we’ve had for our previous festivals. There is such a range of artists, some of whom have never been discovered before, some who are playing their first ever festival show. We are proud to say that Dialled In were able to give them that opportunity.”
August 21-25 Solfest North Lakes Country Park, Aspatria, Cumbria solfest.co.uk
August 22-25 Shrewsbury Folk Festival West Midlands Showground, Shrewsbury, Shropshire shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk
Y u s h y
August 29-31 End of the Road Festival Blandford Forum, Dorset endoftheroadfestival.com
August 29-31 Lindisfarne Festival Beal Farm, Beal lindisfarnefestival.com
August 29-31 Moseley Folk & Arts Festival Moseley Park, Birmingham moseleyfolk.co.uk
August 29-31 (tbc) Smugglers Festival Deal, Kent smugglersfestival.com
August ( date tbc) Beautiful Days Escot Park, Devon beautifuldays.org
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