Coronavirus Outbreak: Ankur Tewari, Armaan Malik, Naezy to hold virtual music festival on Instagram during lockdown

As the world continues to practice social distancing to slow down the spread of coronavirus, a series of Indian artists, in collaboration with Instagram, have decided to hold a virtual musical concert. (Follow LIVE coverage on coronavirus outbreak here ) While the country adjusts to the new reality of social distancing, public figures and creators are finding new and innovative ways to engage and entertain their fans. With this context, the Indian music community and Instagram are presenting a virtual music festival - ‘Live In Your Living Room.’ [caption id=“attachment_8188981” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Ankur Tewari, Naezy, Armaan Malik | Twitter[/caption] The festival will be held on Sunday from 5 PM onwards, and will go on till midnight. It will feature 14 artists who will each use Instagram Live for a slot of 30 minutes, and then make way for the next artist. The lineup includes Armaan Malik, Lisa Mishra, Naezy, Shalmali Kholgade, Akasa Singh, Monica Dogra, Zaeden, Arjun Kanungo, Lost Stories, Akull, Anuv Jain, Jonita Gandhi, DJ Chetas, Akanksha Dhandari, and Ankur Tewari. All the artists will go Live on their respective Instagram accounts. Singer-songwriter Armaan Malik says of virtual musical festival,  “The entire world, including our country, is going through a very dark phase at this time. Everyone is at home, practising social distancing, so that we overcome this pandemic. I, along with various other performers, are coming together to cheer everyone up with our songs, and also spread awareness about the current scenario. It is a great initiative, and I’m glad to be a part of it.” A week ago, international musicians such as  John Legend,  Bono, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Pink, John Mayer, Keith Urban and more have held virtual concerts from their homes, urging fans to practice social distancing. Legend’s performance was in support of the World Health Organization’s newly-launched online concert series ‘Together at Home,’ created in efforts to fight coronavirus. “So many people are dealing with a lot of stress right now, trauma, anxiety, all those things. And they don’t know what to do. And a lot of musicians and artists and entertainers are unable to go out and do the thing that we do best, which is perform live at venues with lots of people,” he told The Associated Press. “So we’re trying to find ways to stay in touch with people and give them some love.”