A convenient space for bands

Sunday Jam Acoustic’, the monthly version of the popular ‘Freedom Jam’, took place recently at Jaaga, Double Road to a small but appreciative audience. Various artistes and bands performing different genres used the stage to showcase their individual talents.

“This is something that’s been happening for the last 15 years. We don’t restrict the genre, the presentation can be solo or as a band and more importantly, there’s no commercialisation of music. There is no screening process for who gets to play. People write in to us and we try and accommodate as many as we can,” shares Leslie Alex, who conceptualised the event.

There was, in fact, plenty of music to go around. The evening kicked off with a short two-song set by Neha Ahmed, a pianist and her friend Soumya. Michael M D, a guitarist, performed his own compositions like ‘Song in the Rain’ and ‘Journey Around The World’. Other bands who performed were ‘Copper Sulphate’, ‘Indus Valley Project’, ‘Seed of Changes’ and finally, Alan Rego, who launched his latest album, ‘Songs For Children: Volumes 3 and 4’).

Two school boys, Rahul and Siddharth, also played, surprisingly, decent covers of ‘Learn To Fly’ by ‘Foo Fighters’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ by ‘The Beatles’ among others. “It was the first time we’ve performed in front of so many people we don’t know.
But surprisingly, we didn’t feel nervous. It was a very nice experience,” shares Rahul, who is only a tenth grader.

The small space with less than 50 audience members allowed an intimate experience for both the listener and the performer, a fact made vocal by both parties.

“It was thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a great platform for young musicians to come and play against all odds of trying to get a venue. There’s some great music being churned out and some of them are actually of professional quality,” says Pradeep Vishwanathan, an audience member. His thoughts resonate with Arnav Borg, frontman of ‘Seed of Changes’.

“We’ve been playing here for two years and it’s a great space for bands that are starting off. It’s not an exceptional response you get here but it’s still great fun playing,” he notes.

 It would have been better if more musicians performed their originals instead of expressing themselves through covers. But for what it was worth, it was a great attempt at creating more takers for live music.