Many Indians, like me, consider “India” as a “land of music”. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that music is in our blood as there are so many different kinds of musical events in my country. Today, I would like to talk about one such musical event which I also happen to enjoy.
The name of this musical event is called the “Sunburn Musical Festival”. It is also considered as Asia's biggest electronic music festival. This musical event takes place in the smallest Indian state of Goa, located in the southwestern region of India, every year in December, and continues for three days. The event actually is an amalgamation of Music, Entertainment, Food and Shopping, and was ranked by CNN in 2009 as one of the Top 10 Festivals in the world.
The musical event also grew to be ranked as the 3rd largest dance festival in the world, after Tomorrowland and Ultra as per the IMS APAC Business Report 2014. This particular musical event is called Electronic dance music (EDM), where a broad range of percussive electronic music genres is played simultaneously in different stages. After starting its journey in the year of 2007, Sunburn took “Goa” by storm and proved itself as India's pioneering dance music festival by creating a craze of Electronic Dance Music in teenagers while also showing a new modern and evolving trend in colleges throughout the whole India.
Anyway, I like this particular musical event, primarily because it is different from other musical events in a sense that it can produce literally any kind of sounds, from the chirping of birds to a girl screaming, from breaking glasses to screeching discs, and so much more. In fact, I would even dare to suggest that music is unlimited in this genre, as opposed to other “traditional music genre”. Besides, I enjoy this musical event also because the music there creates a certain type of “beat and rhythm” that makes me feel like dancing and happy, unlike any other music.
Model Answer 2:
I’m going to tell you today about a major musical event in my Country, which is England in the UK. I’ll tell you what it is, where and when it takes place, the sort of music and why I think it is so significant… even though I’m not sure I’d really say I personally enjoy it!
The event I want to talk about is the BBC Proms. This is an annual summer festival that has been taking place since 1895 so is a well-established fixture in the UK. The festival is of orchestral classical music, the main focus of the festival is the impressive Royal Albert Hall in London, which is a huge domed venue that seats over 5,500 people. As well as the daily concerts there are lots of satellite events in schools and parks, over the eight week period there are probably more than 100 concerts. Some dedicated ‘Prommers’ will get season tickets and attend as many of these as they can.
I’m not entirely sure why this concert season is known as ‘The ‘Proms’. I know Prom is short for Promenade concert, and I suppose originally these were outside events where people could stroll around (promenade) whilst the music was playing. Now, within the hall itself, I don’t think to stroll around is approved of! However, unusually for classical concerts, at the BBC Proms, there are lots of extra tickets made available for standing only. These are comparatively cheap tickets allowing concert-goers to stand in the arena and gallery areas of the hall. Consequently, the concerts are always packed and accessible to far wider audiences than is usual for classical music which is often too expensive for ordinary people to afford to attend.
Although The Proms go on for eight weeks, the really famous event is the closing concert or ‘Last Night of the Proms’. This is always televised and sometimes big screens are put up in parks across London so people who couldn’t get tickets to the event can still watch and join in with the atmosphere. Traditionally this closing concert is quite raucous! People will dress up in patriotic costumes and wave union jack flags. This last concert in the series is usually quite light in tone, with popular classics in the first half, followed by rousing British Patriotic pieces in the second half which many audience members will join in singing with gusto! The sequence traditionally includes pieces by English composers such as Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ and Arne’s ‘Rule Britannia’ and usually concludes with a rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ and the British National Anthem. Informally, post-concert, audiences often spontaneously break out and sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ but it isn’t a formal part of the program, rather a newly emerged tradition.
For many, the Last Night of the Proms is quintessentially English. A display of patriotism and a celebration of English Music and traditions. Tickets are extremely hard to come by and although the preceding eight weeks of concerts are really aimed at classical music aficionados, the last night is certainly widely watched and enjoyed.
