For long, artistes and musicians have felt the pinch of having very few “arenas” in South Goa to perform. As a result, most of these South Goa-based artistes had to travel to north Goa or even leave the state to showcase their prowess. But living with a grudge is not in their veins. Things have changed and so has the motivation. Now, a new trend in vogue. Many of these emerging talents have taken to the social media platforms and have managed to build their own fan-base.
However, this couldn’t entirely replace the experience of performing in front of a live audience, but Quicksand Events, through their concept — ‘Voice of The Week’ – has brought in an opportunity for these artistes to taste the very feeling of performing live in front of packed audience.
‘Voice of the Week’ (VOTW) is a platform where artistes send in video clips of their performances through social media and the best artiste is being invited to perform at a Rock and Roll Wednesday for which a promotional campaign is created that revolves around the selected VOTW artiste.
“Gretchen Barreto, a young and very talented female vocalist from south Goa, who has a wide fan-base, got our attention through her many videos on instagram and facebook, where she sings different covers. That’s when we realised that there must be so much of talent that would jump onto a stage and sing their hearts out, if given a chance. That’s when ‘VOTW’ and the event Rock and Roll Wednesday was born,” said Jonathan Jude of Quicksand Events.
“I have done a fair share of gigs before, but this one clearly gave me more exposure. It’s definitely a good opportunity for aspiring musicians” said Gretchen, who kick-started the season.
Over the last four months, every week, various artistes, young or experienced, found a stage to showcase their vocal talent and even debut their original songs.
“It’s a different feeling altogether. I finally found a platform to perform my originals,” said Zubin Da Cruz, son of the late Emiliano Da Cruz who has played with his band True Blue. “It’s like sharing my emotions through my songs and the best part is engaging with your audience directly as VOTW is the main act of the night,” he said.
In total there were 18 other VOTW artistes and two bands that have performed and the best testament the concept could get was from the audience that travelled from across the state to listen to what these supremely talented Goans had to offer.
