They say you’re not a Bengalurean if your bathroom singing talent was not inspired by the live music performance that you’d visited recently! Bengaluru is well-known platforms that encourage young and talented musicians to evolve and emerge successful. However, with strict laws imposed by the government, the live music scene is dying in the city. We spoke to a few musicians to voice out their woes and here’s what they had to say!
For 29-year-old song writer, guitarist and performer from Mizoram Loysum aka Vinayak Singh, coming to Bengaluru has been a life-changing experience. He shares, “As a self taught musician, I wanted to learn more about music. But, I pursued my education in engineering and was working as a UI developer for eight years in Bengaluru. Eventually my passion for music grew because of the vast opportunities here and I quit my job to follow my love for music.”
Speaking about the struggle of being an aspiring musician in the city Loy says, “The situation is really bad and it is becoming extremely difficult for us to make ends meet. The city is expensive and real estate is sky rocket high.
A life in Bengaluru is becoming unaffordable for us because we aren’t getting booked for shows due to licensing issues and sound. This includes both live shows and corporate events. It will ultimately lead us to move to other cities to make a living.”
Shubham Roy a folk and fusion singer and a catalogue manager at a leading e-commerce portal, speaks about the woes of a musician. He says, “When it comes to showcasing talent, art and struggle has always been in a hand in glove situation. The crackdown of more than 100 pubs in the city to ban live music was a setback for all full time musicians. With live music venues dying out, the young artistes don’t have a platform to seek peer feedback and network. This may also mark the beginning of an era where limitations on live music venues will give the opportunity of more private concerts and artistes taking to social media for creative expression.”
Varsha Raj, an analyst at a leading International bank says she doesn’t prefer hanging out at restaurants anymore. She says, “Meeting my friends over the weekend at cafes and restaurants with live music was the best part! This was one of the reasons why I’d wait for the weekends. But, with the ban of live music, we don’t get an opportunity to listen to real soul music! We end up hearing uncanny commercial beats which only give us a headache! So, I now decide to stay at home and call my friends over.”
The ban of live music has managed to affect everyone including restaurants and pubs in the city. Amit Roy, the owner of a famous food chain shares the scenario, he says, “The ban has resulted in a whopping 40 percentage lack of revenue. With the ban on only select restaurants and pubs, the others alone cannot manage to cater to every customer. Because of the ban, we cannot hire musicians to perform nor can we get them on board as full time musicians as it will cost a lot.”
Speaking about what could be done to strike the balance, Amit suggests, “It is best if the authorities could make laws that are rational. If they could consider our opinions and introduce a rule that will help in the safety of people and not affect the bread and butter of musicians, everything can work out in a harmonious manner.”
