The good old Bengaluru charm is making a grand comeback with the return of live music, states this local musician.
That gentle guitar strum, accompanied by a soul soothing hum, dim lights and an open stage – all in sync with the rhythm of the cymbals. A chilled glass of beer, a cosy pub down the lane, where one finds an escape from fast paced city life. Yes, the good old Bengaluru charm is making a grand comeback with the return of live music.
It’s time to put on those dancing shoes, don the hat and jive the night away. Gone are the days of jukebox loops and synthesised EDM beats, live music is slowly, taking up the limelight.
With the constant launch of new pubs and restaurant chains across the City, venues are having to compete to give its patrons and clientelea different experience. This has opened up more avenues to showcase different artists across venues.
The growing demand for live entertainment and expansion of number of venues has paved way for start-ups, freelance event organizers and event management firms to venture into the field as artist management for respective venues. Guitar club is one such organisation, which is a year old, managing over 4000 artistes, across six cities, they handle an average of 150 events per month.
The concept of live music has changed from what it was to what it is now, back in the 90’s rock’n’roll was the dominating genre, only 5 star hotels and clubs used to host bands, entry reserved mostly to the elite. Now with the democratisation of music and emerging platforms, artistes have diversified themselves by specializing in genres like progressive metal, jazz, r&b, pop, ambient metal and more. They have their own fan following and with the advent of social media, the reach is much more and audience is updated about their next gig and the venue they’d be playing at next.
Live music has many takers today as there is more crowd engagement, the element of surprise is prevalent throughout the show.
Though it seems all colourful and bright, it’s not as easy as it seems, live music comes with its own challenges. Live music also demands a combination of sound, light, visuals and the right genre for the right place and endless hours of practice to put up a great show.
Music has stood the test of time I feel, although there are many stumbling blocks that could jeopardised the live music scene then and now (De-notification of bars, sound restrictions ), alternative spaces like corporate shows, concerts, malls, freedom jams are keeping Music alive, you cannot contain music, it has to flow! After all the show must go on! Right ?
— The writer is a city-based musician pursuing his masters in Media studies at St. Joseph’s College, Lalbagh Road
