Sofar Goa that
kicked off in October 2017 chose the beautiful and serene Fort Tiracol Heritage Hotel for
celebrating 10 years of Sofar. The rustic charm of the fort, the blue sea in
the background and the open sky made for a perfect setting for the celebration.
The event saw music
lovers from different parts of Goa gather for the event and spend an evening
with melodious notes. It was great to see people travel that far and also be so
passionate about music. The love for music was such that no one bothered about
the raw setting or the rock hard floors of the fort where they sat for hours
listening to these musicians. It’s rightly said, nothing is bigger than
passion; if you are passionate about something, you can really go any length to
fulfill it. Sofar is a great example of passion from both the artiste and the
audience.
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The line up included
musicians Sri, Vernon Noronha, Beard of Harmony, Sigmund de Souza, One By Two
and, Aviv Pereira who enchanted the evening away with their original
soundtracks. Most of the artistes were alumni of Sofar, who have performed in
other cities before and now came to Goa for the special day. Usually, a Sofar
has 3 artistes, but since the event was an anniversary special, 6 artistes were
lined up for the evening.
Sofar Sounds is a
global platform that allows artistes, mostly musicians or others on the lines
of stand up comedians and spoken word poets, etc to showcase only their
original content to a very niche audience.
The best part about
Sofar is the secrecy; one doesn’t know till the last moment that who the
artiste would be and where the event would actually happen. As a concept, this
not only allows different musicians to come forward and explore themselves as
artistes and evaluate their connect with the audience, but it also makes people
less judgmental as spectators. Since you are unaware who is going to be
performing, you don’t judge people’s work beforehand or have any preconceived
notions. It’s a very non-biased platform that nurtures the community like
feeling with a very positive approach.
Big names such as Ed
Sheeran, Hozier, PrateekKuhaad started off by playing in small Sofar spaces,
bringing them in to the spotlight, so Sofar is also instrumental in giving not
just an audience but also showcase their music to a wider audience with their
performance videos.
In the past Sofar has
had a mix of Goan, national and international artistes performing with them
like Valerie D’Silva, Aviv Pereira, Madame Gandhi, MC Kaur, Neil Fernandes,
Prashant Edwin, Val Shipley (ofParikrama& Silk Route Fame), Larry T Hill,
One By Two, Mrinal Casewa, Riell, etc.
As of now doing one
gig a month in Goa, a Sofar usually showcases 3 artistes performing to
different genres.
The
concept of Sofar is also accessibility to all and affordability to all. So that
anyone can attend a Sofar gig without even having to spend a rupee if they
don’t want to, though it helps when people contribute generously so that
production costs can be covered. In Goa, Sofar doesn’t do ticketed events and
only try to raise contributions to cover production expenses that could be as
small as Rs 100 per person.
