The Story
OrganizerAmarrass Records, founded in 2010 as a record label and events company committed to fair-trade music production, built its reputation through Amarrass Nights, a monthly Delhi series presenting world music in intimate settings. The Himalayan Baithak is an extension of this philosophy into a slow-travel format: rather than bringing world music to the city, it takes a small, committed audience into the landscape where some of India's most resonant folk traditions originate. The Kumaoni region of Uttarakhand has its own musical world, distinct from the Hindustani classical mainstream of the plains, with Himali Mou among its most celebrated contemporary voices. Pairing this with Qawwali in the baithak format, where the relationship between performer and listener is intimate rather than spectatorial, is a curatorial decision that honours both traditions: Qawwali was always a gathering music, not a stage performance, and the Himalayan setting gives that intimacy physical reinforcement. The November edition features the same artists and format, demonstrating that Himalayan Baithak is building a recurring gathering around consistent artistic relationships rather than chasing novelty with each edition.
Himalayan Baithak represents a rare model in Indian music: the retreat-concert, where travel, landscape, food, and music are integrated into a single cultural experience rather than presented sequentially. Amarrass Records' commitment to fair-trade principles means that the artists receive equitable compensation within an economy that often extracts value from folk musicians. The Kumaoni folk tradition in particular, with its connections to the specific landscape and seasonal rhythms of the Himalayan foothills, is heard differently at Soulitude by the Riverside than it would be at a Delhi concert hall.
Visit the Himalayan Baithak for a rare retreat-concert where landscape, food and music merge: an intimate mountain gathering by Amarrass Records presenting folk and roots musicians in the Himalayas. Far from the festival crowd, it offers deep, up-close listening to master performers in a setting where the journey and the surroundings are as much a part of the experience as the music.
