SulaFest 2026 returns to Nashik for its 15th edition with a focus on homegrown music

There are fewer euphony festivals successful India that tin assertion to person aged alongside their audience. Fewer inactive person done truthful without losing their archetypal intent. SulaFest, present returning for its 15th variation connected January 31 and February 1, 2026, astatine Sula Vineyards successful Nashik, belongs firmly to that tiny category.

Long earlier vineyards became shorthand for manner question oregon euphony festivals turned into contented farms, SulaFest positioned itself arsenic a gathering constituent for sound, onshore and radical who came not conscionable to beryllium entertained, but to listen.

The festival’s instrumentality past year, aft a five-year hiatus, felt similar a recalibration. The pause, according to Rajeev Samant, CEO of Sula Vineyards, allowed the squad to portion the festival backmost to its essentials.

“The interruption helped america reimagine SulaFest arsenic a much intentional, immersive acquisition rooted successful authenticity,” helium says. Scale, helium realised, was ne'er the point. “Connection has ever been our intent. Between artists and audiences, betwixt vino and music, and betwixt the festival and the scenery that hosts it.”

That reasoning carries done into the 2026 edition, which leans decisively into homegrown endowment portion retaining the consciousness of find SulaFest has ever been known for. The line-up reads similar a snapshot of India’s modern autarkic scene: Nucleya and King headline, artists who person each reshaped the mainstream speech successful their ain way, portion inactive remaining profoundly rooted successful idiosyncratic storytelling. Midival Punditz instrumentality with Karsh Kale and Kutle Khan, bringing unneurotic physics production, unrecorded percussion and Rajasthani people vocals successful a collaboration that has agelong been foundational to India’s fusion movement.

Something personal

Alongside them are acts that thrive connected intimacy alternatively than spectacle: The Yellow Diary’s lyric-driven indie pop, Swarathma’s folk-rock with its unmistakable governmental and taste edge, and Princely States Dub Orchestra’s high-energy blend of ska, dub and reggae, designed arsenic overmuch for information arsenic performance.

Gaudi brings his globally informed dub sound, portion Dot.’s understated songwriting offers opposition and pause. Dark Circle Factory’s art-rock experiments, Daira featuring Queendom’s electronic-pop sensibility, OG Shez’s hip-hop and Suggahunny’s bass-heavy dub and dancehall textures circular retired a roster that refuses to beryllium comfortably successful immoderate 1 genre.

For rapper Arpan Kumar Chandel, aka King, who volition beryllium performing astatine SulaFest for the archetypal time, the festival’s power was felt agelong earlier helium stepped onto its stage. “You could consciousness that it was nurturing a civilization — artists expressing themselves honestly, audiences listening with openness, euphony existing without pressure,” helium says.

Artists who person been portion of SulaFest’s longer arc talk of it successful likewise idiosyncratic terms. Chaitanya “Chazz” Bhalla of Princely States Dub Orchestra, known for its genre-bending blend of dub, jazz, rock, and psychedelic soundscape, remembers attending the festival arsenic a listener earlier performing successful 2017 with The Skavengers.

He recalls warming up the signifier for planetary acts, discovering bands similar Dubioza Kolektiv, and watching legends specified arsenic The Beat with Ranking Roger, Parov Stelar and Jungle crossed antithetic editions.

What stayed with him, though, was SulaFest’s instinct for music-first curation. “It’s 1 of the fewer festivals that focuses connected acquisition alternatively than metrics,” Chazz says. Returning this twelvemonth with PSDO feels similar a progression, a marker that the set — and the country — has levelled up.

That consciousness of continuity is particularly evident successful The Yellow Diary’s narration with the festival. Guitarist Stuart D’Costa remembers playing a sunset slot astatine SulaFest arsenic acold backmost arsenic 2011, returning again successful 2014, and watching it steadily turn portion retaining a chiseled identity.

As an assemblage member, helium recalls discovering planetary acts similar The Cat Empire and Balkan Beat Box, but SulaFest besides holds a representation that has thing to bash with euphony programming. “Twelve years ago, this is wherever I met the emotion of my life,” helium says. “She dragged maine onto the creation floor. This year, we’re recreating that memory.”

That closeness is cardinal to however the festival functions. “In an intimate setting, there’s nary hiding,” says The Yellow Diary’s Harshvardhan Gadhvi. The proximity forces artists to beryllium much authentic than perfect, responding to the country alternatively than retreating down measurement oregon effects. It is simply a dynamic that works peculiarly good successful Nashik, wherever the audience, arsenic Sahil Shah of The Yellow Diary notes, arrives acceptable to listen. “Softer genres and lyric-driven songs talk otherwise successful a vineyard setting,” helium says. “The assemblage has travelled, and they’re determination for the music.”