A new property in a Bandra bar involves a live band playing the role of a jukebox
Autumn Souls performs as a human jukebox
Have you ever had that feeling where you've gone for a live concert and wished that the band played a song you love? Maybe you made a request. But the control eventually lay in the hands of the performer to either gratify you or not. That's now set to change with Human Jukebox, a self-explanatory property held every Wednesday at a Bandra bar, where the audience gets to decide the set list for the night.
The concept is simple enough. What happens with an actual jukebox is that you put a coin in a slot before selecting a certain song you'd like to listen to. Here, it's pretty much the same, except that when you walk into the bar and get a table, you'll find a sheet of paper with a list of about 60 songs on it. The tracks are all in English, and span across the '70s to the present day. You pick the one that you'd like to hear and the list is then handed over to the band, while you wait for them to perform it live instead of hearing a recorded version over the speakers. And if there is a track by a particular artiste featured on the list that's not offered as an option, you are free to request that as well and the band will oblige if they know how to play it.
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It's the first time that something like this has been tried in the city, and Mihir Bajoria, owner of the venue that started Human Jukebox, tells us, "We have a music property every Tuesday and what we realised is that people want to hear songs that they know and can sing along to. So, a lot of requests kept being made and that can sometimes get annoying for an artiste because he or she has a set list that's been prepared. And when they say no, there's disappointment at both ends, because the artiste feels like he's failed the guest, and the guest goes home thinking, 'Arre yaar, I wish I'd heard my song.' So, when this started happening too often, our marketing partners, Tilt, suggested the concept and I said that it's a great idea."
The idea, then, is essentially to put the audience in command of the evening's entertainment. It obviously means that the artistes are turned into puppets of sorts, but if they are fine with it, then hey, who are we to complain?
Sing-along songs
The concept of live karaoke is also picking up in Mumbai, with places like Soho House offering it as an option. But that's different from a human jukebox since in the latter, patrons don't sing themselves.
On Every Wednesday night, 9 pm to 11.45 pm
At Door No 1, C — 1 Ankleshwar, shop numbers 1 and 2, ONGC Colony,
Bandra West.
Call 9082046382
Free
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