There is a very interesting movement in Goa that is being driven by the love for music. Pure
music, rich sounds and the connections they can weave and the experiences they
offer. This has been happening at gatherings that began primarily to bring
people who love music closer to the source.
“The reason I’ve been organising these gatherings is primarily
because I believe that music has the ability to heal us and uplift us and
musicians are the vessels of this energy. Today, I feel musicians have been
reduced to simple marketing tools and I hope, through this endeavour of mine,
that musicians are encouraged to express themselves freely,” says Ranjit Pais.
Known as the Eternal Sound Project, these gatherings organised
by Ranjit are called ‘ESP nights’. He has been organising these since the
1990s, first in Bombay and now in Goa.
Ranjit thought of this idea after his experiences at numerous
gigs, where the music was great but either the sound quality was lacking or the
audience was more interested in socialising rather than taking in the music. So
he thought of bringing together like minded friends who shared the same
interests. “We all collected money to pay the musicians and sound guy, making
great musical events happen without having to wait for interesting gigs to be
organised by others,” says Ranjit, while explaining how it all started.
Ranjit, who is a hairstylist by profession, considers music to
be his lifeline. He adds that his profession allows him to interact with people
on a one-on-one personal level and once he gets to know that someone is really
motivated by music, he keeps them in the loop about his plans. “Then it’s as
simple as finding a location, some musicians, a sound guy and the audience and
putting it all together for a cocktail of wonderful music,” adds Ranjit.
The musicians that are invited to play at these gigs are the
ones who want to do original interesting stuff.
“It started as jam sessions, where I brought a bunch of
musicians together, who did not necessarily know each other, and let the magic
unfold. I soon realised that can only happen with musicians at an advanced
level,” adds Ranjit, while describing how the ESP nights evolved. He later
shifted to bringing two acts to perform their own sets followed by a jam.
While a number of these ESP nights have been held at private
homes, gardens or wooded areas, they have been organised in all kinds of
places. “For example, in an artist friend’s backyard in Nachinola, or in
another friend’s 150-year-old house, or at the Arambol sweet-water lake on a
full moon night, or in a couple of beautiful wooded plots of land among trees.
It’s all very magical,” states Ranjit.
The music played covers a wide range, including jazz rock, jazz
fusion, spontaneous improv music of didgeridoo and beat box, an eclectic trio
of Hang drum-Lyra-Oud and even ethnic jazz, African music, Mediterranean music,
etc.
Initially, the location of these gigs are kept secret and only
disclosed to those who confirm attendance. These events were secret crowd
funded to retain the sanctity of keeping the gathering restricted to mainly
music lovers. “It was a gamble because I did not know how many people would
turn up in the audience. But it worked,” says Ranjit.
Lately, the gatherings have been held in a couple of public
venues that understand and share his wavelength and ideas. “I am doing them in
these venues to raise awareness about what I’m doing so that the increased
numbers of supporters can help in paying musicians, getting better sound, a
sound engineer etc,” he adds, pointing out that he has been organising these
gigs at House No. 248 in Sangolda or at a venue called 604 in Vagator.
Speaking about what’s lined up, he said that he has planned an
Indian classical concert, an experimental tabla percussion and bass guitar
concert, a concert by a band called Farafi, and another ethnic jazz concert by
a band called Mr. Destiny.
From
holding a gig to once a month, to organising up to four a month, the ESP has
gained a lot of momentum and looking further, Ranjit hopes that they will be
able to organise festivals of music, art and creativity in the near future.
