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Home > Mumbai Guide News > Things To Do News > Article > Who killed the organiser

Who killed the organiser?

Updated on: 29 June,2019 07:00 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Suman Mahfuz Quazi |

Bands across genres are organising successful gigs at alternate venues, challenging the mainstream business and performing model. But with tiny budgets and few venues, what is the future of DIY shows?

Who killed the organiser?

Bassist Gurdip Singh Narang of Gutslit live at Above the Habitat

Music has the power to bind people from all walks of life in a strange, inexplicable way. It is then both unfortunate and ironic, that the exponents of a performing art form that is so far-reaching are often grappling with the dire lack of opportunities to perform.


On June 16, a post-hardcore band called Pacifist launched their EP at a Khar venue to a crammed audience. It got rave reviews, but what was little-known is that it had been organised entirely by the band's members. "We wanted it to be our own event even if it meant spending some extra dough. The idea was to make it memorable," Pacifist's bassist Utkarsh Jaiswal shares.


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(From left) Utkarsh Jaiswal, Ashish Niraj Dharkar, Sidharth Raveendran, Apurv Agrawal, Aryaman Chatterji on drums of Pacifist


"The musical ethos that we belong to has a strong DIY culture and the benefits of organising your own show are huge. For example, it allows you to pick the kind of line-up you want, as opposed to an organiser doing it, who would have multiple considerations," Apurv Agrawal, the band's guitarist adds. Having studied music production and recording technology in Minneapolis, USA, he says that the primary difference between the scene here and in the West is that venues there are proactively involved in programming and curation of their shows. This involves roping in similar bands so that the line-up retains the same flavour or keeping track of touring artistes so that they can be clubbed with the local ones. This culture is absent in Mumbai currently, making it even more important for musicians to take over the reins. But how does one do that? Luckily, for this band, every member had skills that were predisposed to organising a show. "Our vocalist, Sidharth Raveendran is good with social media and promotions, so he anchored that. And as an engineer, I handled the production aspect," Agrawal elaborates.

Similarly, in the past year, acclaimed metal band Gutslit, who are currently on a month-long European tour, organised two shows at the same venue. "I've been organising gigs myself for the last ten years. In fact, metal shows have always been organised by metal heads. Unlike Bollywood, which is homegrown and therefore for the masses, metal is passion-driven. And that results into fewer venues and lesser funds and facilities. It's a simple demand-to-supply ratio. To sustain in such an environment, one has to work harder and take things in their own hands," Gurdip Singh Narang, the band's bassist suggests.

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Balraj Ghai, Nikhil Udupa, Illesha Khandelwal

Balraj Ghai, owner of The Habitat, possibly the ideal go-to venue for DIY gigs in the city, reveals another facet of this phenomenon. "In the first year of opening the space, we were putting in all the money, from the expenditures of the band, to the back-line to travel. But even when we flew in bands from other cities, the turnout was very little. So then, we took a call and decided to simply let-out the space, and leave the rest to the band because we weren't sure if all of them were hustling outside to invite more people to attend these shows. We realised that they might be relying more on the venue's capability to attract people, but no venue can do that," he points out, adding that crowds — the lack of which abstains venue owners from giving their space for gigs — will come in only when the band plays an active role to that end.

And while organising their own gigs comes naturally to niche genre bands like Gutslit and Pacifist, earlier in January this year, Mumbai-born Rounak Maiti — who had flown back from LA, where he lives now, to perform a few indie shows in the lead up to his album launch, which happened earlier this month — put together an intimate show with the help of his bassist Siddhant Vetekar at Ikattha. "In case of regular venues, an artiste does not get the choice to set the mood of the place, pick the other artistes they are clubbed with or the date for their performance. Organising gigs independently allows them to have control over every aspect of the show," Vetekar shares. About why musicians have taken so long to eliminate third parties like managers and organisers, he argues, "I think it mostly has to do with the fact that, in the past, artistes didn't want to deal with the stress that comes with equipment rental, marketing or accounting for losses when people don't show up for the gig. They'd rather just take their cash and go home."

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Siddhant Vetekar and Rounak Maiti 

Nikhil Udupa, co-owner of 4x4 Experiences, which organises Control Alt Delete, one of the most popular music festivals in Mumbai, echoes this when he says, "The true sentiment of DIY lies in not waiting for others. You don't hang on to organisers, promoters or festivals to give you a platform because when you do that, it also leads to a lot of bitterness and ill-will where you end up feeling like no one is giving you an opportunity. So, if people are beginning to organise their own shows, it's a great step ahead."

But perhaps Illesha Khandelwal, founder of Ikattha sums it up most aptly, "The issue is not about the physical space, is it? In a musical and artistic world, when we address space as the problem, it is not the square footage we are speaking of. Rather, the dream is to create environments, and this seems more possible in collective spaces, where artistes work together to support each other, and take back the power to show the work the way it was meant to be shown."

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