Clinking of wine glasses, rounds of beer and a heady smell of wood oven pizza float around the dimly-lit laidback ambience at a posh poolside venue of a five star restaurant. As the evening progresses and spirits get higher, the lilting voices of singers draw one’s attention. At the centre of the venue, the smiling faces of the singers greet diners and weekend merry-makers with some popular pop songs.
Soon the claps follow and a few energetic ones from the crowd join the singers to shake a leg to the beats. Meanwhile, the other tables go about enjoying the music and food, over some happy conversations.
Welcome to the city’s nascent live music scene that is going to take charge of your evenings. Hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes are all moving towards the live music culture providing platforms to musicians from different genres to entertain.
Live music in hotel restaurants is not exactly new for the city. There was a time when live orchestras and Bollywood bands used to be the crowd-puller in hotels, and many restaurants became popular as much for their live bands as for the food. Old timers would recall the live band at Dolphin Hotel’s Horizon restaurant which enlivened many an evening.
Over the years, a change swept in. Live orchestras became more of karaoke performances and in some places dancers replaced musicians. Then the DJs became quite a rage. It also seemed like the beginning of the end for the guitarist. But the six-string stars did not stop strutting and have in fact made a comeback.
“A couple of years ago, live music in hotels meant just Bollywood bands. Now we get to see more variations. There are guitarists, rock bands, solo singer and dancers making their way into hotels and restaurants to give a new dimension to entertainment and dining,” say the members of rock band Kairoz that has been around since 2011. The three-piece band now plays at Lawsons Lounge at The Gateway every Saturday night. “We mostly play blues and rock and roll, since the foreigners prefer these genres,” says Samuel J Benaiah, the band’s drummer.
While other hotels like The Park, Novotel and Palm Beach have had live music at their restaurants for quite a while now, new avenues, like standalone restaurants, have also opened up for small-time guitarists and solo singers. For instance, newly-opened Barbeque Nation has embraced this concept of live music with karaoke. Other restaurants like Euphoria have bands playing live Bollywood music for diners.
Even multiplexes have started the concept of live music and performances to draw the crowd. The food court at Chitralaya Mall had a band playing live music and also a dance troupe that performs live to spice up the evening. City cafes too are entering the fray providing a platform to amateur talent.
But how fulfilling can it be to sing in a restaurant or a pub where many of the guests pay little attention to your performance? Says Joshua, who plays Western and Country music at Barbeque Nation: “In most cases, people turn up at restaurants for food where the music is like a lingering background score and the musicians are often ignored or rarely applauded even when they’ve sung particularly well. A café on the other hand gives a more interactive experience where the space is small and you are almost one among the crowd playing the music they like.”
In the West, it’s a common practice to buy the singer a drink if the performance is liked – something that may be seen as an aberration in India. “In restaurants, few people give appreciatory comments to the singers or performers. But the ones who do, give heartfelt compliments that stays on for a long time,” says Joshua, also a member of the band ‘Kross’. He recollects an instance when a family at the restaurant came up to him with a special request for a birthday song. Joshua played one of his favourites and added a personal touch to it. “They came up to me and said that the song gave a new life to the evening that they will cherish forever. I play for these moments when my song touches the heart of people,” he says.
Some experiences call for a gentler sound. The Park’s formula for Aqua – its poolside venue - has always been to allow a female singer or singers perform soft music so that the guests, who may not always be active participants in the performance, can hear the music.
Lyka, Lanie and Anne from Phillipines who are on a contract to perform at Aqua and regale the audience with pop, rock, jazz and reggae say that some guests love to sing and dance along. “That gives us more energy to perform. We practice new dance moves to make our performance livelier every evening and even learnt a couple of Bollywood songs,” they say. The trio have played in other countries in the Middle East and South East Asia, leaving behind their families in their homeland to perform at five star hotels. “Vizag has a crowd that is friendly and loves music. We love performing here and hope our stay gets extended,” they say.
Bands and solo performers, however, insist that better promotion will go a long way to shake off certain indifference among the city audience towards live music. The challenges notwithstanding, the idea is to create non-intrusive live music scene that will increase footfall in restaurants and pubs and also ensure that the bands are heard loud and clear.
