The singers' breath swirled round the microphone in icy clouds, which dramatically caught the lights, while the guitarists complained their playing fingers were getting cut due to the cold. In fact, one guitarist skipped playing a solo. The low temperature also had the flautist struggling with his instrument. The sight of a band in overcoats and comforters — one player even had on a Cossack-style hat — was indeed unusual, but so was the venue.

“I've never sung with such a beautiful setting before me,” said Raghu Dixit, lead singer of Bangalore band Raghu Dixit Project, as his eye travelled beyond the small audience in front of him to the fabled snow-covered slopes of Gulmarg glistening in the twilight.

His group opened the Gulmarg Winter Festival with their folk rock act, attired in their trademark lungis that were, of course, worn over the mandatory rubber boots needed in these snowy parts. Soon the hills of Gulmarg were alive with the sound of music brought to it by young musicians from all over India for the first time in three decades.

But the cold was so intense that when Delhi pop band Map took the stage next and Manta Sidhu's rich timbre rang out over the lampposts casting pools of warm light on the road below, only a handful of listeners remained — some holding up their hands to the arc lights to warm their freezing fingers.

Organised by Aditya Shinde and Mandeep Dhillon of Synapses Adventures and Vivek Binepal of Soul Curators in association with J&K Tourism, Suunto, Go Air and MTV, the festival early last month was meant to bring together music and winter sports. It offered those who bought festival tickets and travelled to Gulmarg the chance to sample Kashmiri music and cuisine, as well as some skiing, snowboarding and the world's highest gondola ride. The festival's showpiece was meant to be the performances by folk, rock, indie and fusion bands right next to ski slopes.

But the logistics of transport, power supply and other event management at such freezing temperatures can be overwhelming.

Mid-afternoon on the first day, as the generator was put in place and the sound engineers and musicians tried to protect their equipment from the steady drip of melting icicles, the waiting audience streamed into Lala restaurant. Set at the bottom of a picturesque slope, on which the festival organisers had built a 10-ft ramp of snow for expert skiers and snowboarders to display their prowess, the restaurant served only instant noodles, kava or Kashmiri tea, and pakoras .

But the warmth of the hut made people reluctant to leave, and long conversations ensued. Two journalists from Srinagar interviewed rock band Hundred Octane and the talk, as always in Kashmir, turned to its beauty and the raging political turmoil. Singer Puneet Vohra spoke of how creatively inspiring the landscape was for a songwriter. The journalists smiled and one of them played on his mobile a song about peace by Kashmiri rapper MC Kash or Roshan. Bandleader Arvind Singh said Hundred Octane would play Led Zeppelin's “Kashmir” as part of their set.

Outside, the more enterprising among the TV journalists got Bombay Bassment to put up a makeshift performance — standing on the snow without any instruments. The band rapped happily, getting into the groove after a few minutes, and an audience clustered around as the cameramen filmed from various angles.

Hours later, when the music finally began to pulsate across the snow, the local media was long gone. The audience comprised only about 30 people standing around, as the darkness — and severe cold — closed in. Among them was Matt Wilson, a skier from California, who pronounced the festival “really cool” and similar to those held in Lake Tahoe where, after a day of skiing, people listen to live bands in the evening. “But, because the venue is at the foot of the ski slopes, it's warmer there,” he says.

On the second afternoon, we were treated to Kashmiri music — an hour of sufiana and then the enthralling ruf, when a costumed male singer-dancer joined in. Ultimately, however, the temperature and the weather proved insurmountable.

With sporadic snowfall interrupting even the sound-check, the festival was forced to shift indoors — to the cosy, wood-panelled bar of Hotel Alpine Ridge. And the remaining bands and DJs — Hashback Hashish, Hundred Octane, Half Step Down, Highway 61, Space, Tritha, Lagori, Nyu 'n' Tum, Drift!! The Trio, Bombay Bassment, Avi & The Uprising, Chill Om Records (DJ TaTva K), TechnoholiK (DJ Abhishek Dixit) and Audiogramme (DJ Vikrant) — played in relative warmth, but the scene proving no different from their usual urban setting; the magic of the outdoor locale was gone.

However, power cuts continued to plague the performances. Initially, some bands performed without plug-ins and their voices soared bravely in the darkness each time the lights went out. “Oh dear! the bands can manage during a power cut but what is a DJ to do?” exclaimed Abhishek Dixit. On the last day, the line-up of performers was joined by Kashmiri Bollywood singer Saim Bhat.

Locals say the traditional time for festivals in Gulmarg is December-January, when the weather is beautifully clear. Besides, the New Year and Republic Day holidays see domestic tourists flocking to Gulmarg — the kind likely to be enthused over a music and adventure festival.

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