MUMBAI: The annual music and arts festival held in Rajasthan's Alsisar Mahal pushed the envelope once again this year, probably in one of the most welcoming manners. With two new genres introduced - Spoken Word and Jazz - Magnetic Fields Festival has announced acclaimed writer William Dalrymple as the headlining performance of Magnetic Words’ maiden execution.

Magnetic Words would not be the only newly added element introduced to the festival as Delhi's live performance venue The Piano Man Jazz Club will curate a special jazz club at the palace dungeon. The club’s owner Arjun Gupta will bring a few of the most talented and renowned jazz musicians from the country. Drummer Reuben Narain, Delhi-based pop act’s vocalist Manta Sidhu, session musician Rahul Rai, bassist Sonic Shori, Bengaluru-based percussionist Sava Boyadzhiev, singer Megan Powers and pianist Pradyumna Singh Manot (founder of bands like Los Amigos and Jazzeando) would join Gupta at the exclusive Piano Man Jazz Club-oriented set-up created at the dungeon in Alsisar Mahal.

The effort to introduce the alternative space for jazz enthusiasts revolves around the idea of expanding the festival’s sound beyond future-facing sounds or simply electronic music. The Piano Man Jazz Club will run on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Noted Scottish writer William Dalrymple as the headlining act for Magnetic Words, who joins fellow handpicked writers and storytellers featuring singer-songwriter Monica, Radhika Vaz, Raghu Karnad, Myna Mukherjee and several other artists line-up, curated by British-French writer Rebecca Hobson. Magnetic Words is the festival’s effort to celebrate art and the experience through basic unit of human culture - story. The acclaimed Scottish writer, Dalrymple, would provide a sneak peak to his soon-to-be-released book ‘Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Famous Diamond’.

Magnetic Words will run on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The festival will be held again at the 17th century palace turned hotel Alsisar Mahal from 9 to 11 December.