Features
14 photos of Arrivals, Glastonbury’s first-ever South Asian dedicated stage
The new space - which is entirely designed and curated by a South Asian team - made a roaring debut in Shangri-La this year
For the first-ever time in Glastonbury history, the festival’s South East Corner (sometimes referred to as the Naughty Corner) introduced a brand new South Asian-dedicated dance music stage this year — conceptualised by an entirely South Asian team and designed in collaboration with Dialled In, Daytimers and Going South. As well as making history at the world-famous festival in its 52nd year, Arrivals brought with it a line-up of revered talent from South Asia and its diaspora from all over the world.
Opening for the first time in Shangri-La on Thursday night with a performance from the legendary DJ Ritu who came up in the ‘90s Asian underground scene, Arrivals saw lengthy queues in eager anticipation of its grand opening. “This space has been designed, conceptualised and programmed by an entirely South Asian team,” explained Dialled In's Dhruva Balram ahead of its debut. “Everything has a meaning - it speaks to the past, present, and future.”
The stage takes Glastonbury-goers through a vortex of visuals - a portal into an “alien jungle planet, immersed by an audiovisual world coded in solar punk, carnivorous plants, cyborg beasts and space pirates”. The design team included Shankho Chaudhuri, Esha Sikander and Shirin Naveed, and features the work of illustrator Osheen Siva, playing on nostalgia and futurism concurrently.
Artists who took to the stage over the weekend included Anish Kumar, Gracie T, Nabihah Iqbal, Bobby Friction, Manara, Baalti, Nikki Nair, yourboykiran, and plenty more, each performing through bespoke hand-built soundsystems filling each corner of the room, playing a mix of fierce club bangers, rap and traditional sounds to an always rapturous crowd.
Here’s a look inside the brand-new stage…
