Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Dismissing rumours that Sunburn 2008, billed as Asia’s biggest music festival, was stalled because of the ban on beach parties by the Goa government, festival director and MTV VJ Nikhil Chinappa said that it is “still happening”.“Sunburn is 100 percent still happening. The government has given us the permission as Sunburn happens on a private piece of land vis-à-vis the ban that applies on parties on open beaches and beach shacks,” Chinappa told IANS over phone from Panaji.

“Moreover, it is a ticketed event and we run only from noon to 10 in the night, which is within the guidelines. We intend to change the image of music festivals in Goa by making Sunburn a safe, clean event with zero tolerance to illicit substances,” he added.

Parties in Goa’s public beaches have been banned this season due to security fears in the wake of the trror attack in Mumbai Nov 26.

The second edition of the annual music fest is scheduled to be held at Candolim beach, North Goa, Dec 27-29.

It will host about 40 top musicians from around the world.

Chinappa, who is hosting the festival with DJ Rohit Barker, said: “We’ve got four stages this year as opposed to three and this time around it is a three day fest unlike two days last year. However, the number of DJs remain the same, around 40.”

The festival will also have food stalls, fire jugglers, stilt-walkers, a flea market and will promote environmental friendliness and education.