It's Strictly confidential

While there’s a mushroom of clubs and collectives of late, ones that promise you art, music, poetry in a more intimate set-up, somewhere in your lawn, living room is what is taking the world by storm. The guest list is limited. These gigs are mostly sponsored or crowdfunded, and the result is a spectacular gathering of like-minded people who truly wish to enjoy the music.

If you chance upon any multi-genre music fest, you will see people are there just for “the vibe”. There’s always food and drink involved in selling an experience.

It all started when London-based Rafe Offer and his friends found it frustrating during a live music show in a pub with the crowd talking over the performance and a distorted sound system. They decided to take the performance to a smaller audience where people are only enthusiastic about the music.

Reimagining the live event experience through curated, secret performances in more than 400 cities around the world, this movement Sofar Sounds is a global music series and now India forms a big part on its roadmap. Their secret (invite-only) shows bring music lovers together in an intimate setting to re-discover the magic in live performances. Nobody talks and everybody listens. The concept first came up in London, and slowly spread around the world, coming to Delhi in 2016.

Over the past year-and-a-half, global secret gig series have established in a big way, hosting monthly shows in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Chennai.

The whole idea to create a different ambience, brings in suspense about the artists and the venue till the last minute, says Tanya Nath, city lead, Delhi NCR. Coming from the music industry, she first heard a team play in a New York Park, while returning from work. As she checked out more details, she was in awe with how it all works. It’s run by volunteers who arrange the event and create videos for a YouTube channel.

They’ve gone from living rooms in south Mumbai to garden balconies in skyscrapers, to lawns in Delhi villas to verdant backyards in Bengaluru and gallery spaces. There is always a room full of attentive listeners.

On a similar wavelength are Delhi’s REProduce Artists and their founder Rana Ghose, who hosts monthly Listening Room sessions featuring the newest and edgiest electronic music producers and collaborations between artists. Thus far, Ghose has held Listening Room gigs in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru in India, London, New York and Los Angeles. So far they have booked artists commercially in Vietnam, China, Thailand, across Europe, US and Canada.

What started as an experiment because pub and club music had way too many disruptions, has become a rage. Although their gigs are not as secretive, details about the band, venue etc are avaliable in advance on social media pages. “We do not believe in marketing. It is best spread through word of mouth among friends,” says Rana Ghosh. It’s purely based on voluntary service where a sum of '300 is collected per person at the entrance and this amount is used for all activities. “We are making profits,” claims Rana.

Rana recalls his journey, “The series started as an instinct. It was a reaction to not being able to go to shows that I wanted to.  The catalyst was a post New Year’s Eve slightly hungover conversation on Facebook messenger with my friend Bhanuj Kappal about how we were both, kind of bored?  We wanted a change?  We knew there was a slew of amazing, uncompromising, totally inspiring talent that wasn’t getting gigs in commercial venues because their work didn’t effectively score people eating pizza and linguine proxies?  In many ways you can blame a Kolkata two piece called JESSOP&CO. - they were making some of the most welcomingly hostile sounds I’d ever heard and Bhanuj and I were just keen to present that to a public.  The rest – the “secret” nature of shows, the marketing – we didn’t really think about any of that too much.  We just wanted to showcase art we could get behind, not pander to anyone’s expectations, and never lose money doing it.”

It’s the people who add to the event and despite the challenge of getting right venues etc and this is great fun feels Tanya.

Says Janvi Anand, who is an Indian acoustic guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. She has attached herself with sofarsounds, “The music scene in India has changed a lot. Today people come to concerts for serious listening. These secret gigs have become extremely popular. Unlike the US where the artist has to ensure tickets are booked, here there is a host of people who ensure footfall and I can just perform. Moreover with sofarsounds which has a global reach, performers can have many shows in different cities across the world.”

Having performed extensively as a solo artist, she performs in California and India as an Acoustic Pop Rock artist. She likes to talk about human relationships and vulnerabilities through her cross genre compositions.

The beauty is that neither the artists are aware of what the audience would be like, nor is the audience briefed about the artist, and that leads to a discovery of sorts on both parts.