Haven' A harmonic soiree

A new wave is getting music lovers together to celebrate the symphony. It’s called the Secret Gig. It is pioneered by GuitarClub, which brings together indie artistes, venues and acts as a discovery platform for musicians that are starting out. But the Secret Gig is something else altogether. We find out more.

Picture this. You’re sitting in the comfort of your living room and you call some close friends over for an informal evening of beer, appetisers and great live music. That’s exactly what Venu Gopal did recently at one of the secret gigs in his house.

“We had great fun hosting a unique concept like The Secret Gig. We had a fabulous experience at a previous event, so when they asked us if we would host a Secret Gig, we jumped at it. Artistes in our living room, combined with the element of surprise and getting to meet some like-minded and new people was a difficult to resist proposition!” exclaims Venu Gopal, a mobile technology professional with Apalya Technologies.

This is a first of its kind platform to connect Indie musicians with audiences. The advent and acceptance of live music helps promote independent artistry. “We founded GuitarClub as a tech-enabled platform where great independent artistes could find their audiences at partner host venues. But our Secret Gig idea was totally out of the ordinary. We wanted to try it out as a unique experience for both the artiste and audience, something up-close and personal, in an intimate setting. And our first gig was quite an astounding success with Megha Shankar Live. It was pure magic, indeed,” says Pawan Kumar, the founder.

The Secret Gig is a viral marketing concept to popularise its main business as a market place for indie artistes. “The best part of the evening was that the guests didn’t know who was playing that evening, and they had to guess through certain clues given,” shares Vaibhav, a guest at one of the secret gigs.

“It was a fun experience as we received instant feedback from music lovers. There was great camaraderie in the house, and I hope we have more of these sessions in the future as our city is filled with young talent,” singer Megha Shankar who performed live at one of the gigs shares. GuitarClub is also holding an event on January 17. This is a meet-up of artistes who will share stories, have a panel discussion with the guests, some live gigs over food and networking.”

Some of the participating artistes include Raghu Dixit, Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean, Koco of Agnee, Rajeev and Bruce Mani of Thermal and a Quarter, Govind Menon from Thaikkudam Bridge and Suraj Mani, founder, Music Mojo.