The Mic's open to all things musical

Chennai has been quite familiar with open mic nights. Thanks to the groups like Evam and The Pundits who have popularised stand-up comedy through open mic nights. Its concept is simple ' if you've got talent and are willing to showcase it, there's a stage and mic kept ready for you. Now, the trend is slowly catching up among musicians, too. They are organised at hotels, pubs and even at places like parks and beaches.
According to music aficionados, the trend caught on with the need to have platforms for amateur independent artistes. Nishant BK, a musician himself, says, 'I, along with a friend of mine, Shwetha, started putting together open mic nights, last year. We've had around 35 different artistes performing over 11 shows till now.' Nishant adds that the trend of open mic nights was first set by stand-up acts. 'I used to do a lot of impromptu music stuff with Evam, whenever they did open mic nights. And that got me thinking, 'why not for music, too?'

As Nishant says, the response has been quite good and that has resulted in more people organising them, of late. Among the recent open mic nights, there was one organised by the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music on World Music Day. 'It was organised at a cafe and we had people, including professionals, beginners and even bathroom singers performing at the event. The whole idea was to give a platform for people to come and sing without any inhibitions. There were many who wanted to perform and finally we had to say 'no' to a few as we ran short of time,' shares Siddhartha Ramanathan, who was one of the organisers of the event.
Interestingly, the open mic nights aren't only held within the four walls of a cafe, pub or hotel. A few recent ones in Chennai have been organised at public places, too. One such open mic night was held a few weeks ago at the Anna Nagar Tower Park by a bunch of music enthusiasts. One among them, Stevie, a musician himself, says that in a matter of few months, open mic nights for music have become quite popular in Chennai. 'So, we wanted to try out the concept in a unique way and that's how the one at the Anna Nagar Tower Park happened. It attracted the attention of a lot of people, including those who came for an evening walk or just to have some relaxing time. Now, we are in talks to get permission to organise it at the Besant Nagar beach. We are hoping to organise it as a monthly event,' says Stevie.

Singer Kavita Thomas, too, organised an open mic night recently and she put together the two-day event at the Covelong beach. 'After having done two shows in the city, I was invited by some folks in Covelong to put up one open mic night there. I was quite excited and immediately agreed to do it. It's not often that we musicians get to perform on beach. And that's one of my favourite settings for a music performance. As expected, the response was amazing and we spotted some really talented fellows. We even had a few expats performing and also among the audience,' informs Kavita.

Nishant adds that the open mic nights are all about finding a diamond in the rough. 'You can't expect all the performances to be exceptional. But you will definitely find one or two really talented ones and that's the whole idea behind open mic nights. The challenge is to organise it consistently and for that we need enough number of venues. Earlier, when we just started, hotels and pubs had their apprehensions if such events would attract crowd. Now, more and more places are opening up to idea of holding open mic nights. Stand-up comedy got really popular with open mic nights. Similarly, the independent music culture has the potential to make it big in Chennai through open mic nights,' signs off Nishant.