‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’       

A Festival of Music and Arts on Environment

 ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ (A song by Pete Seeger), a first of its kind in Manipur, is a two-day festival of music and arts inspired by the music and environmental activism of the late American folk singer Pete Seeger.

'Where Have All the Flowers Gone' is not just a festival to celebrate the work of American folk singer late Pete Seeger or to bring awareness of the environment to the people. The festival focuses on bridging the gap between rural and urban life, community involvement, providing platforms to youth, supporting indigenous cultures and traditions, bringing together various communities under one platform, exploring unexplored rural areas.

Every year the festival takes place in a chosen rural area of the Imphal valley in Manipur. The venue is changed every year. Each year the organisers make sure the local residents and clubs are involved in the organization and activities of the festival. During each festival in the past, in the process of organising the festival a bond of friendship and respect has developed between the local people and the organisers. The organizers have learnt to appreciate and respect the local ways of life and tradition. On the other hand the local people are exposed to various forms of art and ideas during the festival. In the process they can think of generating new ideas on how to promote their own arts, tradition and culture to the outside world. Often it has been the case that the local people become volunteers for maintaining order during the festival and they are invaluable as they know the details of the venue. Even Meira Paibis (mothers) of the rural areas have coordinated with the organisers in the festival.

Moreover, people from the neighbouring villages are also invited to perform their indigenous art forms like music and dance during the festival. This widens the participation base. 

The festival has helped draw attention to the festival venues as scenic locations for tourism.   

Every year around 300 children participate in painting competitions based on the theme, “Save Our Environment” as part of the festival. Different cycling clubs in Imphal also join in the bicycle rally every year. The festival has also brought various artists from places such as Kolkata, Bombay, Nagaland, Assam, Bangladesh and various places of Manipur.

First, second and third edition of the festival took place at Chingnungkok, Lamlai in 2014, Andro Santhei Park in 2015, Phayeng in 2016, Khurkhul in 2017 and 2018 respectively and again at Phayeng in 2019. Crowd funding has been the major source for organising the events in the past six editions which put tremendous pressure on the organisers to continue the event on an annual basis. The festival is organised by Where Have All The Flowers Gone – The Foundation, a Public Charitable Trust

8. Artist list 

1. The Gentle Good (Wales)
2. Takar Nabam (Arunachal Pradesh)
3. Street Stories (Nagaland)
4. Ditty (New Delhi)
5. Lo! Peninsula (Manipur)
6. The Koi (Manipur)
7. Meewakching (Manipur)
8. Siyom (Manipur)
9. Eyoom (Manipur)
10. Solace Her (Manipur)
11. Pebet (Manipur)

9. Other activities 

                   1. Bicycle rally

                   2. Film screening

                   3. Children’s painting competition

                   4. Tree Plantations

                   5. Art exhibitions/installations 

                   6. Indigenous cuisines and beverages