Ziro Music Festival
An outdoor independent-music festival staged in a Himalayan valley of paddy fields in Arunachal Pradesh.
Ziro Valley sits at around 1,500 metres in Arunachal Pradesh, a flat bowl of terraced paddy fields ringed by pine-covered hills. It is the home of the Apatani people, whose wet-rice cultivation system — farming rice and fish in the same fields, without terracing machinery or draught animals — is on UNESCO’s tentative list for its ingenuity.
The festival is an independent-music event held outdoors in the valley, with stages built from bamboo. The line-up leans toward Indian independent acts across rock, folk, electronic and experimental, alongside musicians from the northeast and international names. It has become one of the better-known outdoor festivals in the country, and remains deliberately small.
Attending is a trip, not a night out. Ziro is reached by road from Naharlagun or Itanagar — several hours on mountain roads — and most attendees camp or stay in homestays in the surrounding villages. Late September in the valley is cool and can be wet.
Arunachal Pradesh has historically required an Inner Line Permit for Indian visitors and a Protected Area Permit for foreign nationals. Confirm the current requirement before booking.