Every Saturday, Ritu Rao, an infrastructure space consultant, and her naval officer husband spend their evenings listening to high-octane rock and alternative music at a music cafe in south Delhi.The couple, like most 30-somethings in the Capital, have grown up on bands like Creed, Pink Floyd, Guns’n’Roses, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin and RATM that she describes as “a serious cross between the music of the 1970s and 1980s”.
“The music cafes have been responsible for promoting better and more sensitive understanding of popular rock and alternative music,” said Rao, who was at Cafe Morrison.
A handful of establishments like Cafe Oz, Music Cafe, Cafe Sound of Music, Noida Rock Cafe, F Bar, Hard Rock Cafe and Cafe Morrison promote meaningful and new sounds — and local bands — in Delhi and the National Capital Region.
The cafes lend a voice to the bustling musical underground in the Capital that is charting a progressive and experimental course to sing “original” songs of life and contemporary realities, away from the fad of covers.
Delhi-based music reviewer and cafe animal Asif Khan, who likes to listen to alternative music, said, “a lot more should be done to promote progressive rock and metal”.
“The cafes should promote awareness and become centres of the musical revolution. The number of bands in Delhi have not grown over the last five years, though the quality of original music has improved. Mumbai and Bangalore have overshot Delhi in numbers,” he said.
Even five years ago, Delhi used to be the hub of original music, Khan said.
“Bollywood is not the deterrent. Bands are yet to be professionally recognised. They are not paid and most of the members support regular day jobs. Their professions do not allow them to explore their potential,” the reviewer said.
Progressive rock and thrash metal band Prestorika is embarking on a yearlong tour of the US at end-June. Its vocalist Vasav said, “Delhi’s cafe crowd and the audience, in general, are now ready to listen to original scores unlike earlier when a band was expected to play covers. The cafes are playing innovative and experimental music.”
The 11-year-old band, inspired by the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva in its music, plays in music cafes across the Capital at regular intervals.
Their new album, 447, The Most Confidential Knowledge, is based on Lord Krishna’s vision of the world and discourses to Arjun.
The music pubs, though a nascent concept, act as tools of integration too — carrying music beyond the mere audio-visual experience — to include social issues.
The Hard Rock Cafe-Delhi celebrated its 39th founder’s day recently with a mix of philanthropy, music and a packed house.
“We invited 50 underprivileged children from the Capital with the help of a non-profit organisation, Music Basti, that empowers poor children with music, and sponsored band music for them. We are trying to reach out to the fringes of society through music,” a spokesperson for the cafe said.
The chain across India engages in causes like the welfare of sex workers’ children, education and promotion of music among the deprived sections of youth and young adults in metros. This is the café’s anniversary month dedicated to classic tributes and international DJ nights.
Another of the capital’s oldest rock music haunt, Cafe Morrison, recently closed its month-long birthday party with a tribute gig for the manic heavy metal quartet — Metallica, Megadeath, Iron Maiden and Panterra. Cafe Morrison, born May 8, 2005, turned five this year.
Next month, it will pay a musical tribute to its “inspiration”, Jim Morrison, the legendary rock musician-and-poet July 3 on his death anniversary. Morrison died at 27 of an alleged drug overdose.
“The revival in the interest of classic and alternative rock music in the Capital is barely five years old,” DJ-entrepreneur Sidharth Talwar, who owns Cafe Morrison, along with fellow DJs Anish and Ayush, said.
“The rock scene in Delhi was dying at the onset of the decade. Barely 200 out of the two million people in the Capital knew about music even 13 years ago when I began my career as a DJ. A gap existed in the market for music cafes. As I grew up listening to rock, metal and alternative music, I wanted to promote these genres and the local bands,” Talwar said, recalling the story of the cafe. Morrison has since played host to all the 80 underground and progressive bands in 300-odd shows.
— IANS
