Talking Baalti’s Stage Setup at Lollapalooza with Visual Artist Angana Kundu
At Lollapalooza 2026 in Mumbai, singer-producer Sijya and electronic duo Baalti elevated their stage presence by adding elaborately constructed designs onstage.
At Lollapalooza 2026 in Mumbai, singer-producer Sijya and electronic duo Baalti elevated their stage presence by adding elaborately constructed designs onstage. These backdrops further enriched their performances and gave fans another element to connect with while basking in their music.
Sijya‘s setup featured a long, cut-out, rustic, mirror-like sheet spread across the Perry’s x Keep Walking Stage, while Baalti nodded to India’s sound system culture with towering twin rigs aimed to emulate the raw sound booming out of DIY sound systems.
We spoke with artist and illustrator Angana Kundu, the creative hand behind Baalti‘s stage design, to get a closer look at their vision and all that went into this project.
TFword: From rage drawing on your room wall to helming multiple artistic ventures across the board, how would you describe your various adventures as an artist?
Angana: Wow, that is actually a loaded question. Rage drawing in my room, that is actually very precise. That’s exactly how I began drawing. Since I’ve never had any artistic training, I just kind of wanted to explore all mediums possible. Initially, it was just painting, and then I wanted to move beyond painting. Somehow, right now, I’m at the juncture where I am blending my illustration with installations. But it’s been interesting, going from painting to illustrating to animating to now installations. It’s been fun. It’s been, I would use “spontaneous,” “flowy” and “natural” to describe it.
TF: When tasked with collaborating with Baalti for their stage design at Lollapalooza, what runs through your mind?
Angana: Initially, I was just trying to think about what resonates with Baalti, what screams Baalti, like what is so evidently them. And also it’s Lollapalooza, so everything’s just huge and large scale, so I did not want to do anything minimal. I wanted something that stands out, something that’s kind of in your eye, but something that is like an identifier for them, that you look at and you’re like, “Of course, this is so very them, this is so appropriate.”
They showed me a few of their album covers, the music and what inspires them. And it is basically the West Bengal sound deck system, the rural sounds. And I wanted those bheepu horns. I also like the speaker stack thing that they did for one of their album covers, Mela. So I thought, “Okay, let’s bring the two together.”
TF: How did the concept of assembling 12-foot-high sound systems fitted with rows of horns come about? What inspired the look?
Angana: If you look at the sound deck system, it’s just like rows of horns on a van that they’ve connected, and they’re just doing their thing and somehow making it work. I knew I wanted those silvery, glistening rows of horns out there, but I also knew that I wanted my installation to be huge because it should be size-appropriate. I wanted something that somebody at the back of the crowd could see because that is a part of the experience.
I knew I just wanted something that was huge, but I stuck to 12 feet and not higher because of challenges with transportation. Mihir and Jaiveer shared album covers, and I was like, “Okay, let us recreate an album cover, let us have the whole album cover standing there for everyone to see in front of their eyes and not on their phones.”
TF: Did Baalti’s music influence or shape your vision for the design and overall setup?
Angana: Yes, 100%. While I was designing it, I was also listening to their music and trying to think of what elements I could incorporate, how I could reflect the kind of visual language they have, and the colors that they would use. The color was very important to me because of two things: it’s a color that needs to be on brand with Baalti and it’s also a color that needs to look good on the stage.
TF: How involved were Baalti? What was the environment like working with them? Were you given briefs and guidance, or was it free rein from Jaiveer and Mihir?
Angana: They were great to work with. They’re the chillest, nicest people that I have worked with, honestly. This was probably my most fun project, and all the kudos go to Jaiveer and Mihir. When we got on that first call, they were actually looking for merch designers, and I asked them how they’d feel about stage design, and they were down.
They just walked me through what inspires them and how they’ve approached their work, and they were like, “You see what you can come up with.” I was brainstorming whatever ideas we had and it was just nice. They just trusted me with the whole process and they loved it. I loved it. It was great; like, I wish everybody was like Baalti.
TF: Concerning Perry’s x Keep Walking Stage at the festival site, did you have to keep anything in mind during the planning and executing steps of your design?
Angana: Just the stage specs – how big is the stage, how high is it, etc. I needed that blueprint in order to determine how big my setup would be and how much of the area it would cover, because I didn’t want the stage to look empty, because otherwise it’s just a DJ console with two guys.
I wanted the stage to look filled out. The only major thing I had to keep in mind was the amount of time I would get to get my setup on and off stage, which is why the whole structure was on wheels. It was made like some 40 kilometers away from Lollapalooza and then transported to the site, where we added the finishing touches and kept it backstage below the ramp. When it was performance time, we just rolled it on, and we just set it up.
TF: During the entire journey from creation to assembly, did you face any challenges? Are there any details you are most proud of?
Angana: I have a very good team of carpenters who are excellent at executing briefs. My team was super, super good at doing this. They executed it in about 12 hours. They made the whole thing, they colored it, made the frame and everything following my drawings. I literally had to brief them once.
I’m proud of the Baalti logos, the Mela logo (all made by Mihir), the Baalti font and even the garland bit. It’s not a lot if you think about it, like there are four elements to it, which are the pink base, stack of horns, these identifiers and flowers. That’s pretty much it; it’s not hectic at all, but I’m proud of all the details, from the colors to each and every element of it. I really, really love this. It’s a piece of my heart.
TF: Finally, how did you feel seeing your design onstage at Lollapalooza?
Angana: Honestly, I was just running backstage to the audience and back again during the entire set, making about five trips as I wanted to see how it looked from both angles. I don’t really think it sank in because my only priority was making sure everything went smoothly. Once it was done and dusted, just looking at the audience reaction was insane. I’ve had people reach out on my socials and tell me they were leaving, but upon seeing these giant pink speakers arrive onstage, it piqued their interest. They stayed on and loved the music.
Multiple people asked me if the speakers were connected and if that was where the sound was coming from because it looked very authentic to them. That is the biggest compliment I could get. It’s still surreal that I can’t believe I did that. I am doing the stage design for one of the artists at Lollapalooza who will soon perform at Coachella, so it’s insane. It’s been like a few months; it’s sunk in, but it’s still like, “Holy sh*t, did I do that? F*ck, I did that!”
Featured Images via Gaurang, Nupur Agarwal, Mihir, and Angana Kundu.
Find Angana Kundu on Instagram
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