Friday 16 March 2007

Open Mic Nights in Colombo - A Distant Dream?

Every musician, whether amateur or pro, would love to play to an audience rather than just to the furniture in his/her room. It takes a lot of balls to pull off a live performance, but the rush you feel is magical. But in Sri Lanka there are almost no opportunities for people to play as often as they'd like to. The gigs that happen only showcase a limited list of hacked bands playing hacked covers. The majority of the crowd that go to those gigs are there only to be seen rather than for the music. It's pathetic.

What I want to know is where are the real live music fans in colombo? Would they be open to a new concept to promote Sri Lankan artistes and music?

I wish someone would introduce "open mic nights" over here, where people could come, pick up an instrument, play and/or sing something...anything. Who plays on the night would depend on who wants to play. I'd love to see people try to be different at such nights. The audience would be music fans and not 'wannabe's. There'd be no boo's even if the guy is shit. Only applause to cheer him on and for having the balls to go up on stage. There'd even be the possibility of an impromptu jam session! It would be a great opportunity for musicians of any level of ability to take the stage, to gauge audience reaction to an original song, to play a cover in a completely different way to the original, to be themselves!

What do you guys think? any ideas? i'm dying for such a stage. But is this too much to ask?

4 musings:

Anonymous said...

hmmm i think not many share the high of just hearing music whatever it may be.....most of the musicians are not in it for the love of the art but for the economic gains...
I think it would be a brilliant idea..but itll take some time for it to catch on...trust me ull have alot of set backs...but its worth it in the end as u say

Sachini said...

a low key open mic night would be really good. if you want it I think you should go ahead and organize one and see what the response would be like. contrary to what azure has said, in a country like ours there are many musicians who play as a hobby and just out of the love for music while having some other job. Our country still hasn't reached the level where most musicians play for economic gains. So far only a handful have taken that risk of making music their sole livelihood.

So i think there will be lots of interested people.

Confab said...

to be honest azure, there's not much economic gains that anyone can make from making music in this country. i think its more to be known by a lot of ppl and to be associated with a band.

a low key one would be great to start sach. i'm gonna have to wait to get some free time to get things going. either of u wanna help?

Anonymous said...

hmmmm true but most of them would scrounge for anything they can get..out of experience some wouldnt even lower their charges for charity shows.....
im in confab i gave u the dates:D