That's the way out

The biggest and hippest live venues across town are turning down bands that sing in Hindi. Play figures why the rashtrabhasha doesn't mix with booze and melody

A few weeks ago, Bengaluru-based folk rock band Swarathma performed at Hard Rock Cafu00c3u00a9 (HRC), Mumbai, for the first time. It was also their first at an HRC anywhere in India. The band swept the Jack Daniel's Rolling Stone India rock awards, held at the venue, and headlined at the event as well. If it hadn't been for the awards, the band may as well have waited for as long as it took for a sponsor to support them, just to be able to take stage at an HRC.

This despite the fact that their hometown has its own HRC. For a band like Swarathma, which has found an impressive fan following across the country in a little over three years, being denied a platform at a major venue like HRC, didn't make sense.

Just last week, an hour short of midnight, Flying Cats are onto their second set at Not Just Jazz By The Bay (NJJBTB), South Mumbai's oldest running music club. The jazz trio led by German violinist Holger Jetter, French bassist Mishko M'Ba and American drummer Sangoma Everett do an impressive grind. There are about four people in the audience.

This venue too would rather support international music and English bands week-after-week on all their slots from Wednesday to Sunday, rather than lend its name to a desi band. NJJBTB even has slots for school and college bands every Wednesday and Thursday, but it won't let its no-Hindi policy slip. "We have international standards. It's an English music club. We say no to bands the moment they say Hindi, because the crowd will go haywire," says Joe Sequira, general manager, NJJBTB. When we tell Joe that local bands that write and perform Hindi songs could do with their support, he's surprised to know that such bands exist at all.

Access to a band means nothing if the venue has strict programming guidelines. Carl Alfonso, who runs Electra Events lines up acts at hip nightspots like Firangi Paani in Andheri and Novotel's terrace bar Gadda da vida. Carl who's totally clued into Mumbai's Hindi band scene says his hands are tied. "It's the corporate policy at Firangi Paani not to include Hindi music.

Although I've recommended them to colleges and festivals. It's totally based on the need of the client." Lead vocalist and founder of rock band Zedde TuBlue is disheartened. "I've had bands like Prayag (Mumbai-based Hindi band) come and watch me, but I've never been able to catch them on stage at Firangi Paani. That's rather sad," says TuBlue, whose band performs in English.

Colonial hang-up

Delhi band Emperor Minge's Brit frontman Stefan Kaye narrates a recent amusing and surprising instance while he was producing a variety show that included music. "I found it offensive that the sponsor, who is a Punjabi, told me that we couldn't have Hindi content. I barely know the language, but here I was, an English guy, fighting to have your language in my act," says Stefan.

Finally, Stefan settled on a solution that didn't mean too much of a compromise. His production could include no more than 10 per cent Hindi content. Stefan being the creative crook that he is even wove in a satire that slammed the anti-Hindi attitude into the act. The manner in which he pulled it off is commendable but also hammers home the fact that had he could pull it off only because of the colour of his skin. An Indian producer may have had minimal scope to compromise even. Hinglish? Impossible. Stefan agrees.

Band bajao

Suman Sridhar of the group Sridhar/Thayil tweeted early last week: 'wonder how much talent we're missing out on because our festivals and venues only entertain "English" bands' "I think the criteria should be good music, not the language," says Suman, who writes and sings in English along with partner Jeet Thayil.

A lot of Hindi rock bands don't even approach venues such as Blue Frog, NJJBTB, HRC and Firangi Paani because word has spread that they will not be welcomed, or worse still in the fear of being rejected. The fear or outrage isn't misplaced. "HRC invited Pakistani band Jal to perform. They should allot some slot for upcoming Hindi rock bands. The biggest hypocrisy is at Blue Frog they have bands from all over the world. Multi language bands perform here," says Shor Bazaar's bassist Krishna Kumar Venkitachalam.

Blue Frog, the upscale South Mumbai music club defends itself saying that they don't have a problem with Hindi lyrics. "The reason why some bands may not have got booked is because of the genre and musical style. It's got nothing to do with the lyrics. Most of these newer bands are rock bands and we don't do rock very often at Blue Frog," says Jehan Johar, who has been a part of Frog's core programming team since it opened doors in December 2007.

The bigger concern is quality control. "When people come here, they don't want to watch a semi-amateur band. While we do have space for newer, younger bands, they have to fit the venue. Blue Frog is not a garagym warehouse-y kind of venue," he says.

Budding band Talaash is a popular Hindi act with city colleges, but yet to make the cut as far as sound and songwriting is concerned. "Maybe venues such as Zenzi and HRC think that the crowd won't like Hindi music. But when we've performed, we've never felt language is a barrier," says Harshit Desai ofu00a0 Talaash.

Mumbai-band Airport played at Bandra's Bonobo last fortnight, and faced an anti-Hindi stance at major venues recently. Airport's lead vocalist Arijit Datta is careful not to name venues but makes his displeasure evident. He says, "I want to be away from all the hate. I really don't care which venue hosts me."

Change is here

HRC, which opened its first outlet in Mumbai in 2006, has been slow to sense the growing discontent in the music fraternity. As recently as a month ago, the venue decided to alter its programming strategy across all its five outlets. The change perhaps is also to do with the fact that HRC has internalised the programming procedure instead of outsourcing it, as was the case since its launch.

Amit Keswani, vice president, sales and marketing, HRC says, "Our initial idea was to get away from cover music but right now we're in the process of realignment." Next year, HRC has big plans to involve Indian Ocean, unarguably the most inspiring desi rock band, that raised the bar for acts such as Swarathma, and every other band that decided to sing in Hindi. The ball's rolling already this year. "Agnee has performed twice in Mumbai and we want to get Swarathma in too. I'd love to have Avial down as well," says Amit. This week, Delhi rock band Faridkhot is set to perform at HRC, Delhi.

Newer venues such as Bonobo in Bandra and Daddy's Windsong in Juhu have been inviting Hindi rock bands to perform. "We don't have a policy. It's more about what we like. Although our live music scene is quite erratic, we don't have fixed slots. But yes, I don't know any music venue in the city which has been actively promoting Hindi rock bands," says Nevil Timbadia, partner, Bonobo, Bar.Food.Love. Airport last performed on a Sunday at Bonobo to a packed house. "We had about 200 people. It was a crowd that loved music and the language they were singing in didn't make a difference," says Nevil.

Il Terrazzo, the sea-facing open air bar at Juhu hosts three bandsu00a0an opening act which runs into half an hour, a main act that lasts about an hour and a 15-minute "music trailer" as he calls it, of the band that will perform the following week on its tiny stage every Wednesday.

The sound may not be the best but bands can seldom afford to turn down a show. Especially brand new bands which find that Il Terrazo could be the perfect place to test their sound the crowd and host are anything but patronising. "It's always been about original music here. That's the only thing I insist on. Bands must do all originals," says Sameer Malhotra, music curator, Il Terrazzo. Sameer picks his top three Hindi rock acts from the city Ankur Tewari and the Ghalat Family, Shor Bazaar and Airport. "I'm dying to get Avial down," says Sameer, of the Kerala-based act.

Brands such as Jack Daniels, which have been hosting award nights for Indian bands for the last five years, don't discriminate between English and Indian language bands. "It doesn't matter as long as it's rock. Our aim is to make rock music more mainstream and with every passing year we've seen rock just get bigger," says Amrit Kiran Singh, area director, South East Asia, Jack Daniel's.

Sound control

Bobby Talwar, founder, Only Much Louder (OML), the independent agency that has signed on bands such as Swarathma, thinks bands, regardless of the language they think in, need to up their standards before they can approach venues like Blue Frog and HRC, which are known for their international standards. Some bands are of the opinion that while these venues send out invitations to English rock bands, they play unfair with Hindi counterparts.

"Why should Hindi bands always go asking whether they can perform? Why can't they get invited as well," asks a musician. Bobby argues that bands should lose the chip on the shoulder. "Get visibility elsewhere. Why isn't there any aspirational value to play at another venue? Why should bands perform only at an HRC or Frog?" he asks.

Rock show at a church?

Last year, OML in association with The British Council organised Unconvention, a music convention for industry experts, musicians, event organisers, managers and anybody who was concerned about the music scene in India.

One of the points that came up was the lack of venues where bands could perform, and some interesting solutions were thrown up. The most inspiring was to use local spaces. If there's a cafu00c3u00a9, a church, an auditorium, a school, a bar or an orphanage willing to lend its space, grab it. Try alternate venues and push the bar. The logic is simple. If the band is good, it won't find it hard to get an audience.