That seems to be the message from NCPA, amid signs that the SoBo venue might start pushing more indie rock musicians in a bid to attract younger audiences
Kitchensink in performance
A glance through NCPA's musical calendar over the past few months reveals it to be the usual mix of ballet performances, Hindustani classical recitals and full-blown operas, with a particular focus on jazz outfits, both international and home-grown. Yes, it has dabbled with other regular indie genres in the past, having, for instance, hosted singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad and electronic producers Anish Sood and Dualist Inquiry some years ago. But such performances are not the mainstay of the venue's music curation.
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The Experimental Theatre at NCPA
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So it came as a bit of a surprise when we learnt that Kitchensink, a Delhi-based experimental synth-rock band, is playing a gig on the launch tour for its debut album, Harmless Things, at this SoBo venue. "Is it a sign that these haloed doors will be opened up more for straight-up indie acts? Let's find out," we thought.
Making moves
So we made a call and the spokesperson for Farrahnaz Irani, general manager of western music at NCPA, told us, "This [hosting Kitchensink] was definitely a conscious decision. See, us being a venue that promotes international music, jazz is something that we had to constantly keep pushing since it was an almost-dying genre about a decade ago. But it's becoming a lot more self-sustaining now, with new venues opening up. It's doing its thing by itself, having come into its own. So, that leads us to phase two. We had tried to experiment with EDM a few years ago, which led to an interesting amount of feedback. But yes, there is a conscious decision for us to now slowly move more towards blues-rock, neo-funk and indie-rock."
He was quick to add, however, that it isn't that there is no past precedence for such music being played at the venue. But the difference this time around is that NCPA plans to use more marketing tools to push such genres out in a way where the organisation isn't sticking steadfastly to its traditional approach.
"One of our biggest selling points is the amount of tradition we have going for us. But, it is imperative that we head towards different genres of international music. I'm not saying that we are going to have a metal concert here. But we do need to look at younger audiences," he conceded.
Something to sing about
The idea is thus to gauge the sort of response that the Kitchensink gig gets and then keep an open mind about the requests that pour in from other indie acts. Irani's spokesperson revealed that talks are already afoot with two bands that have been around for a while and don't fall under the jazz bracket that NCPA is famous for (there is also some big news slated for October, he said, but since it's too early to reveal what that is, watch this space for more). So, as things stand, all of this should come as music to the ears of the city's indie music fraternity, since, frankly speaking, they suffer from a paucity of venues where the focus is more on the music than the drink in your hand.
Holding out hope
Local indie mainstay Raxit Tewari says, "I guess every musician who’s gone there to watch recitals has dreamt of playing at NCPA. An arts-first venue where one goes only for the music is a rare commodity in our city".
ON August 30, 7 pm onwards
AT The Experimental Theatre, National Centre for Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point.
CALL 66223724
ENTRY Rs 500
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