Not just singing for their supper

Amarjot Kaur

Lost in the cacophony of cover songs by self-proclaimed Sufi bands, which reproduce carbon copies of Bollywood songs, Chandigarh’s independent music scene is now finally buffering the blows of commercialisation.

What started off with Chandigarh Rock Community, formed by music lovers of the city in early 2000, reaped a welcoming boom in the number of city-based bands, including The Innovatives, ATM, The Carrot Fish and SOS.

However, with a series of competitions that kicked off in 2005, with Campus Rock Idol organised by DNA Network and Pub Rock Fest, which soon fizzed out, the only option left for the bands was to play at the pubs.

Not quite like the pub culture in Delhi, the bands in the city were asked to perform for a meal and drinks as compensation, with very little money offered for their services, which caused many bands to spilt-up due to lack of funds.

For now, we have restored our faith in Bob Dylan’s song, The Times, They Are Changing, as the city bands find an alternative space to record, perform and produce good music.

Studio wise

While most commercial studios in the city entertain Punjabi singers, the only option that the Indie bands had was to go to Delhi and record a decent song, which too, cost them a bomb. So, the city now has studios that are looking to promote independent artistes. Here are a couple of them:

Blue Olive Studio

"Honestly, I started this studio to promote musicians who are composing original songs," says Ranbeer, a city-based sound engineer. He works mainly with Keshav Dhar from Illusion Audio, UK-based Acle Kahney, from 4D sounds, and Anindo Bose from Plug 'n' Play. "Also, we have high quality pre amps (RME), Focusrite, studio guitar processers (Fractal audio AXEFX) and we have a series of instruments, including Fender guitar," he says.

Venue: F-266, Industrial Area, Phase 8-B, Focal Point, Mohali

Minimum cost: Depending upon the engineer the band or an artiste chooses, the least being Rs 8,500 to Rs 25,000.

Fame Game: The vocals of Neuclya’s Long Gawacha were recorded at the Blue Olive Studio.

Adam’s Palace

Designed by San Page, who is the sound engineer for several artistes, including AR Rahman, Adam’s place is a studio made by Adamya Sharma, a city-based musician. “I asked him to design a studio for me after I saw San’s studio in Pune. I can vouch for the sound system we have here,” says Adamya.

Venue: Adam’s Place is at Gandharva Mahavidhalaya, Panchkula-10

Minimum cost: Rs 25,000 for recording original songs, and Rs 12,000 for covers.

Fame Game: Adamya recorded his indie song, Baarishyaan, at his studio.

Ruff Sound System

The Ruff Sound System did its first gig in 2013 at Jagatpura and that too, free of cost. “Well, the idea was to get the young people to listen to fresh and original songs because not everyone can shell out Rs 3,000 to pay at clubs that use music to sell their liquor,” says Dub Sharma, city-based musician and the co-founder of Ruff Sound System, a music project undertaken to promote Indie music. “We now do shows at The Cubicle, at Industrial Area, Phase 8, Mohali,” says Dub, who has produced music for Bollywood films like Gangs of Wasseypur and his recent song, Azaadi, featuring Kanhaiya’s speech. Besides music, Ruff Sound System also promotes painting, theatre and other creative talent, all for free!

Worker Bee

Now, here’s an Independent artiste management company, by a musician, Kunal Malhotra, who has been a drummer for the band, I Quit. “We started off with School of Rock in 2010 to tap on music talent in schools and now we have tied up with The Backroom to get Indie artistes for the main act from across the country, while featuring local talent too,” says Kunal.

Kunal also started Chalo, a pub crawl festival in 2014 taking gigs from Satva to Blue Blazer to Tao. “I remember, when we played at the clubs, they would ask us to sing for food and liquor, giving us no other remuneration. The Worker Bee gives at least Rs 15,000 to the artistes,” he says.

So, if you need your fill of fresh music, for the art and craft of it, you know where to go, and guess what? There are some things that money can’t buy, for everything else, there are fancy clubs!

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