There has been much hemming and hawing over what does and doesn’t exist in the general sphere
when it comes to support and infrastructure for young and upcoming musicians
and performers, and there is plenty of reason for that to soon cease, courtesy
an initiative that is finally making its way to Goa. For the uninitiated, SoFar
Sounds is a world music organisation that gets artistes and listeners together.
It is a London-based company that specialises in arranging secret events in
private homes. Each city has a leader (organiser) responsible for booking bands
and private locations for their concerts. Active in many cities worldwide, Goa
is set to open its own chapter (as the units are known) later this month, on
October 22.
The idea behind the endeavour is to encourage musicians to put
forth their original music, which is targeted at a niche/ specific intimate
audience. While the platform is usually free, often voluntary donations are
accepted. The spaces that are looked at, in terms of venues, are usually spaces
such as living rooms, because they provide a more intimate experience. For
interested attendees who wish to be a part of a SoFar concert, the process is
an easy one. When registrations open, you log in, add your details, and specify
how many people would like to attend with you. You will later be notified if
you have made it to the guest list. Once confirmed, you do another registration
and you’re done.
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Recently, about 1,000 artistes participated in private concerts
across 60 countries, as a part of ‘Give a Home for Human Rights’, a concert
series collaboration between Amnesty International, the world’s largest human
rights organisation, and SoFar Sounds. Starting in Auckland and ending in Los
Angeles, of the 300 shows, 100 were held in the United States. Notable artistes
who performed included Ed Sheeran (in Washington DC), Ani DiFranco (in New
Orleans), The National (in Edinburgh, Rudimental (in London), Jake Bugg (in
Nottingham), Hozier (in Dublin), and Moby (in LA), to name a few.
HERALD CAFÉ: Why was now the right time for SoFar
Sounds to enter Goa?
NUPURA HAUTAMÄKI: SoFar has wanted to enter Goa for a while.
They were looking for someone who could spearhead it, as they did not want to
enter and then shut shop soon after, since it is a volunteer driven platform.
Also, one has to organise a minimum of one gig every month, which means
listening to a lot of artistes, managing bookings, finding different venues,
marketing the show and much more. Right now, SoFar Goa consists of only three
volunteers including myself, so I am hoping that we will have many more
supporting us.
HC: Goa has a notoriously small pool of singer-songwriters.
How can SoFar help to elicit change on this front?
NH: When I moved to Goa, I thought, with the
huge number of musicians here, I would have no trouble finding artistes for
SoFar. I learnt that it is not easy to find original content, as the pool is
very small. But the audience is also missing for it. The success of SoFar in
the 11 other places in India proves otherwise, and I’m hoping that the people
who really enjoy live music and good content in Goa will attend SoFar shows. A
SoFar show is not just about original content, it is also about bringing the
magic back to live music. It is a great platform for new artistes to take their
content and make it heard globally, as we have some quarter of a million
subscribers on our YouTube channel. Not to mention that once you have performed
at a SoFar gig in your home city, as an artiste, you can perform in any other
city. Not just in India, but in the world. A lot of the musicians that are well
known today started with SoFar.
HC: Did the Goa shows need to be tweaked in
any way, in order to meet the needs of the target audience here, or is the same
international template being followed?
NH: I guess the SoFar Goa team will learn
along the way and see what and how we need to tweak things to meet the needs of
the target audience. Of course there is an international template, like the
artistes and the venue location being kept secret and the guests having to
register on the gig site to be able to attend an event, so that we can curate
the guests that attend, or keep the content only to original music and not
repeat artistes. But again, I feel that SoFar works not just globally, but also
in the other places in India because of these things; and not just in big
cities like Bombay or Delhi but even in smaller places like Imphal, or Dimapur
in Nagaland where SoFar is already active. So I see no reason why it won’t work
here in its current format.
HC: If there is inadequate response from the
market, will there be a repetition of performers, a rise in performers coming
in from beyond Goa, or will SoFar pull the plug altogether? What’s the long
term plan for Goa?
NH: I
really believe in SoFar, and think it is a wonderful platform for not just
musicians, but even audiences. I am looking at Sofar only growing in Goa, as we
will also be using loads of artistes that visit Goa during the tourist season.
Since we made the Goa page live, we have already had some 50 plus artistes from
across the country and the world get in touch to perform with SoFar Goa. I have
also had a lot of Goan origin artistes who now live in other places get in
touch to perform with SoFar in Goa since they come here to visit often. I am
hoping that once we do a few shows, more and more local artistes will come
forth, and even take up doing original content. Plus another artiste, Vince
Costa, told me that colleges would be a great place to find new Goan talent. So
I am also hoping to try and visit colleges to catch all these young and budding
musicians who have some amazing skills and offer them this platform. I am also
hoping that Konkani singers, percussionists, ghummot players, fadistas,
basically all forms and genres of Goan musicians come and perform at SoFar, so
that we never have to repeat an artiste. And though SoFar has a lot of
musicians, it is also a platform for budding stand-up comedians, poets or
spoken word artistes, electronic music content and lots more, so I’m definitely
hoping to reach out to all these artistes.
HC: What can Goa expect from the first SoFar
gig, later this month?
NH: I
am hoping that we can provide a totally immersive experience, some amazing
music, some surprises and magic too hopefully.
One can go to the link below to apply for
a seat to attend a show:
https://www.sofarsounds.com/cities/goa/events/14715
