Sofar Sounds: Creating an Intimate Music Experience

March 21, 2017

Amidst the hustle and bustle of Pune, people are walking towards a secluded building, where the next Sofar Sounds event is about to take place. Everyone is on time and eagerly awaiting for the artists to perform. The location is revealed just a day before but the artists performing are still kept a secret. “We keep the location a secret because most of the times the event is being hosted at someone’s home. When it comes to the artists’ secrecy, we want to celebrate Pune-based talent that hasn’t been heard before so people don’t apply on the basis of who is performing. This setting is not your typical gig. The focus is on the performance and the music,” explains Varun Mukerji, an entrepreneur who leads the city chapter along with Varun Mehra, a filmmaker.

Sofar Sounds (Songs from a Room) was started in London in 2009 with the intention of creating an experience that would allow artists and music lovers to enjoy music in an intimate set up. Now spread over 316 cities around the world, the event is also hosted in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Sofar relaunched in Pune in February. In fact, Pune is the first Asian city to host a Sofar gig. “We work on a completely voluntary basis. The artists perform for free and the hosts allow us to use their space to accommodate music lovers. We work on a pay-what-you-want basis and that donation basically helps us to organise our next event. But more than that, it’s a sense of community that comes out of this. Pune has such a diverse culture so we meet new people at every event. It is a melting pot!” mentions Mukerji.

There are three acts, providing a platform to three different musicians or bands from varying genres to perform and interact with audience members. The first to perform was Maalavika Manoj or Mali, an independent folk and country musician who hails from Chennai and is now based in Mumbai. Following this performance was another by Empty Café, a city-based fusion rock band that comprises of Vinay Kaushal on guitar and Gandhaar Amin on flute. The last act was by Dreamhour, an electro-pop music band started by Debojyoti Sanyal and Gunzan Pradhan.

“There was an air of warmth and authenticity all around which was only accented and amplified by the performances. It seems that Sofar has achieved the balance between being organised and organic at the same time! It was intimate through and through,” remarks Kartik Goswami about his first time at this event.

Mukerji also adds that the intention of this is to not disrupt the conventional performances that take place in clubs in the city, “This is mostly for people who are interested in the concept of live music being consumed intimately. It is a space where artists can share their inspirations and stories about their music. We’d like to do this more often and keep it going in Pune!”

The next Sofar event will take place towards the end of April. You can find out more here.