Concert in your living room: Bringing art closer to a sophisticated audience

BENGALURU: As the song gets over, there is a small ripple of applause. The artiste then explains the genesis of the composition, taking questions from the audience and explaining in detail what that particular music meant.

Welcome to the living room of filmmaker and photographer Arjun Swaminathan, 41. Called Jagali, which roughly means a space outside a village home, it is here that people are gathering to get a taste of performing artistes in the city, first hand.

In May this year, Swaminathan, along with his spouse Saraswathi Anand, a media marketing professional, and friends Madhuri and Nitesh Agarwal decided to bring the performing arts closer to a discerning audience. “We wanted to take away the distraction that most artistes face at a pub, or a venue, where people’s attention is divided,” says Swaminathan.




On one Saturday of the month, he invites an audience of not more than 50 people into his living room to experience music, storytelling, theatre and puppet show, among others. “The performances are completely organic. There are no big sound systems or lights,” Swaminathan adds.

The outreach of these shows has been completely word of mouth and sometimes through social medial pages. The entry is free and audiences are encouraged to offer a donation at the end of the show. Says Rashmi Attavar, horticulturist, who attended one of the shows, “It was such an informal experience. As music lovers, we had direct access to the artiste, which is not possible when you go to big, ticketed events.”



The first show had Vasu Dixit, musician and vocalist of the band Swarathma, who performed a mix of original compositions and a few songs by Kabir and Purandara D sa. “Such concerts allow people of different age groups in a single room. For artistes, it’s also a platform where they can experiment with a new song or a slow one which is not possible at a college or corporate concert,” says Dixit, who for the past year has been running his personal endeavour called #maneconcerts, where he takes his music into people homes.

Added to this conundrum is Bengaluru’s ever-threatening laws on live music that has affected the livelihood of musicians and other performance artistes. A living room concert cuts all the confusion, as it’s a simple format, where people gather just for the music and nothing else.

“The culture of mehfils has come back. However, in such settings it is very important that while there are no tickets for entry, people make a donation for the show so that artistes are not shortchanged,” says Gurupriya Atreya, singer and founder of The Living Room Kutcheri, a similar space in Malleswaram, which has been holding intimate concerts for over a year now.