Musical blocks

Bengaluru’s varied music scene is renowned for satiating all music cravings. But like any other field, the pressures that the artistes face are many. Band members, solo artistes and session musicians point out the difficulties that they face on a regular basis to be in the limelight.

Be it lack of venues or devaluation of someone’s work, the problems are many. Neill Braganza from punk-pop band ‘Neill Braganza Music’ observes that not everyone understands the value of music. “To keep one’s music on top, one need to keep the number of gigs consistent and the content refreshing,” he says. The increasing number of bands in the city, adds to the competition.

“This also leads to discussions like which band comes at the cheapest rate, which is very discouraging,” he adds.

Neill says that the group tries to make sure that the audience understand what they are doing on stage.

“We sing in Hindi, which makes a bigger connect with the audience. Of the different things we look into, we play some covers and originals too, which has helped in building the connect,” he details.

Divya RT, a sessions musician and a vocal coach, feels that the biggest challenge is to be true to oneself.

“Every artiste is trying to put out a bit of themselves on stage. But nowadays, when a particular artiste or genre sells

better, everyone tries following that fad. Most artistes feel the pressure to include elements or perform in the same genre,” she says.

“It depends a lot on what the audience wants to hear. Some venues host specific music. If one wants to make their mark, a lot of marketing will be involved,” she adds.

She notes that when new ideas generate, not all event managers are as enthusiastic, as an artiste would hope. “They are worried that there won’t be a good crowd,” she adds. 

Death metal music has stereotypical attitudes attached to it, says Shreyas Aakarshan, a band member of ‘Traces’. “The kind of music a band plays is important. Metal music is not accepted at most places, which leads to lesser venues for us. They are always assumed to be anti-social,” he says.

Events in the city are often genre-specific, where a electro-night would mean only electronic artistes performing. “Sometimes, bands do not fall under a specific category like our band which is metal by core but does do not involve growling. This makes it difficult for venues to decide and categorise. Also, the appreciation a known electronic musician like Armin van Buuren gets (even if the audience doesn’t know the artiste) is not the same for a band,” he says. 

Full-time musicians go through more pressure than others who have a nine-to-five job, says Vats Iyengar of progressive rock band ‘Rainburn’.

He says that making ends meet can be tricky sometimes. “Venues and audiences are shrinking by the day. People don’t think of attending concerts as a date night or an outing. Many music lovers now prefer being indoors and settling in with their electronic devices or online platforms,” he says.

Vats feels that it is “a very closed scene”. “I believe
that the audience isn’t growing. I attend many shows and I meet the same people everywhere. Most of us just end up going to each other’s shows. The whole idea of live acts is still not as big as a Bollywood night is,” he says.