Independence Rock: How Mumbai's iconic rock festival came to life in August 1986
Updated On: 07 November, 2022 10:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto
Many Mumbaikars will witness some of their favourite Indian rock bands perform this weekend at the Independence Rock music festival in Mazgaon. As it returns after nine years, Farhad Wadia, the founder of the festival, relives how it came to be in August 1986, and Mumbai’s evolving music tastes
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The festival Independence Rock gets its name from the fact that it was held annually on the August 15 weekend. Photo Courtesy: Farhad Wadia
Independence Rock (I-Rock) returns to the city this weekend at the Bayview Lawns in Mazgaon. Interestingly, I-Rock traces its history back to August 1986 at Malhar, one of Mumbai’s most popular college festivals hosted every year by St Xavier’s College, not too far away from Rang Bhavan, where it was hosted.
At the time, festival founder Farhad Wadia, who studied at the college, was part of a rock band called Mirage, which was supposed to perform at the cultural festival along with the likes of Rock Machine, the previous avatar of Indus Creed, one of India’s most iconic rock bands. As they were set to play that year, Wadia says, the music concert was banned by the management. It was due to a reputation that made it unfavourable. Luckily for them, there was a huge rock music following in the city at the time, so they decided to do something about it.
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