The first event by FHE was the highly successful Shopping, food and Music festival called Madras Market. The first edition of Madras Market happened on the 23rd and 24th of July in Wesley Grounds, Chennai. It was a nothing short of a carnival with loads of Shopping, Activities, Workshops, food stalls, Music etc. People came in, shopped, played, ate and enjoyed the Music. Agam, Thermal and a Quarter, Grey Shack and CinC performed, much to the delight of the visitors.
The second edition of Madras Market happened on the 10th and 11th of August and featured an exciting line up of stalls from vendors from Chennai and outside. There was an exclusive Sufi concert by a band formed by young Musicians like AbhayJodhpurkar, Shashwath Singh, Nikita Gandhi and others, all of who are current students/Alumni/staff of the KM Music Conservatory( Rahman’s music school). Live Banned, an indo-international mass band from Bangalore too were among the performers.
The third edition took place at the same venue on the 25th and 26th of January 2014. This edition saw an increased number of stalls with a much wider variety in products. On popular demand, Live Banned came back for a second time to perform at Madras Market. Anthony Dasan and his band performed folk numbers. The highlight of the third edition was the inclusion of an inter collegiate Music contest. Top colleges from the city participated in the event. Loyola College took away the first place. Apart from this the event also saw a mega blood donation drive organized in aid of TIARA hemophilia foundation, with over 200 people donating blood over the two days.
The fourth edition of Madras Market saw a new venue and was held at the YMCA ground in OMR closer to the IT corridor. The edition saw a great response for a new venue and it reassured the fact that this was Chennai’s most favorite shopping carnivals. We had some amazing sufi performance by Shashwat Singh, Nikhita Gandhi and Band belting out some soul stirring medleys. Day 2 saw some high performance action with a on stage zumba demo by Misfits. There was a huge crowd on both the days and many exhibitors had run out of stock before the end of the event.
The fifth edition took place on the 28th of Feb and 1st of March in the Quaid-e-millath college grounds on Mount Road. Yet again, there was an overwhelming response to the event with people thronging in right from the start of day one. There was a inter company dance competition and this drew a huge crowd. The uber famous and high energy band from Bangalore, Lagori performed on day one. With a huge array of stalls from all over the country, people enjoyed the experience.
The sixth edition of Madras Market happened at the landmark of Chennai, the VGP Universal Kingdom on the 4th and 5th of September. Despite the distance from the city, the crowed thronged the event on both the days and there was a good mix of activities to keep everyone engaged on both the days. An array of food options including Kerala Sadhya and Elai Saapadu from Thanjavur were a huge hit among people. Noor, the band with Shashwat Singh and Nikhita Gandhi were back in action with some retro hindi and popular bollywood covers. Orlando’s Medium Rare band performed on day one.
All the six editions of Madras Market were attended by around 15,000 people each time. Madras Market has gone on to become one of the most sought after events in the city.
