MUMBAI: Picturetime join forces with the Indian Army for the 1st Ladakh International Music Festival at Leh and Ladakh from April 30 to May 2 will be held at Leh's Sonam Wangchuk Stadium.

The mega rock band fest will be a four-day event starting by bringing local Ladakhi music bands an opportunity to play with national bands. And the Indian Army is setting an example to justify unity in diversity by not just being the perfect host but also provide a musical piece at Rezang La to enforce ethos of our defence forces, it is an honor and proud moment for them to be a part of new original musical dedicated to our braves from Rezang La.

Bands like Indian Ocean, Parashara, the Joi Barua & his Band and Tetseo Sisters from Nagaland, EDM DJ Ali Burrni and DJ Anna Radko are some of the names that will enthrall the audience at the festival.

It so happened that during a film festival in Arunachal Pradesh, Founder & CEO, Picturetime Sushil Chaudhary and composer-singer Joi Barua came up with the idea of doing a rock music festival with the Indian Army. Their intentions and plans had so much substance that in no time they went into action mode, which was planned in just 30 days.

Excited about the festival, Sushil shared, “After getting back from Arunachal Pradesh, I happened to speak to Major General Kaushik (Chief of Staff, Fire & Fury Corps), he had been thinking and contemplating of doing a music festival as well, so Joi & I immediately went to Ladakh, did the site Recce, brainstormed and that’s how the festival took shape”.

“We are emotional and involved”, said Joi. The singer lives in Mumbai and has a heart of Northeast so his performance is going to be loud and magical. “Picturetime and the army are planning something so big, a lot of importance and respect are given to the culture”.

Sushil felt that Rezang La is missing a story telling for Indians, they thought while conducting the music festival, they will also involve local Ladakhi music bands. The composer created a new Rezang La anthem and will mentor Ladakhi band where they will play on a big platform. “People of Ladakh haven’t seen anything as such, though they are talented as any other states, Ladakhi needs platforms to perform and showcase their talents. We hope that the festival will be bigger than the Hornbill festival of Nagaland. We will mould them professionally and then hand them over to the Ladakh administration”, exclaimed the founder of Picturetime.

Renowned music composer Joi Barua and his band will be performing this new anthem with Picturetime in metaverse / VR format  for the Rezang La memorial.  GOC-in-C Northern command and LG, UT Ladakh will likely grace the event and also launch the Rezangla Anthem. The anthem will also soon be tele cast abroad on a few leading channels. “When I got to know the history of Rezang La, the bravery story helped me compose the anthem. I wanted to value the soldiers at the border”, expressed Joi.

Picturetime’s main focus is to set up screens, currently they have two screens in Ladakh but are planning to set 5 more screens in different locations before July.