The Maiden Voyage of The Muse Room
- 12 May 2016
- FWD Admin
- Features
An account of the first performance at The Muse Room from Aum-i-Artistes and how it answers the need for the perfect musical venue in Kochi
Kochi during the past few years has been in the midst of a cultural awakening. Even though Kochi has been in the midst of the cultural happenings and has become the de facto location for the movie industry, it has been lacking in venues for live programs for a while now. In fact we could still count in hand the very few places in Kochi which caters to live-entertainment aficionados. Other than JT PAC and Café Papaya there has been very few venues left in Kochi for them. In fact although JT Pac has been doing it more professionally than most, it is an auditorium by design that is for concerts and not intimate performances.
We can now add another venue for those who craved for live music performances in the city that are more intimate and engaging. “The Muse Room”,just like many of the good things in Kochi, is located in Panampilly Nagar. I was able to attend the first performance on the 4th of May. The venue itself is not that big, but that works in its favour. It feels more intimate and personal. In fact the bean bags for the audience are a nice touch as well.
And for their maiden effort they could not have picked an artist better than Oorali. Oorali cannot be defined by a genre or a tagline. If we try to boil it down to an explanation on what they are, they can be explained as a mixture of Punk rock and Chakyar koothu. Punk rock by their anti-establishment lyrics and Do-It-Yourself methods, Chakyar Koothu by the way of using their music to talk about the current socio-political issues. Completely in malayalam, proud of their Thrissur heritage and vocals interspersed with various sounds of nature. They vocalize about issues from the destruction of our forests to the cyclical nature of politics. In fact their performance begins as a bus ride with the blast of a whistle and a list of the places we will be seeing as part of this journey. Ironically their actual bus malfunctioned and they came on two bikes with whatever instruments they could carry.Their explanation had the audience in splits. It is this sort of a candid conversation which makes The Muse Room something so intimate. In fact it feels more like a musical party with friends(very musically capable friends) than an actual concert. But there is no wonder on how this came about, to be this good, as this is the brainchild of “Aum-I Artistes” the creators of Music Mojo and basically responsible for the renaissance of independent musicians in Malayalam.
Kochi as a city is evolving with various malls, theatres and even transportation systems like metro rail. But a city becomes truly unique based on the musical and cultural landscape it brings out into the world. So good music untainted by commercial affiliations and true to their artistic origins is the only way it will happen.'Aum-I Artistes' were able to bring this to commercial TV and take independent music to the masses. If any can do this for live music, it is them.
The Muse Room is gearing up for their second show with Sreejith the Beard featuring Ruben Simon. I am not familiar with their music but the name itself is intriguing.
So are you going to be there?
I will be.
So here is hoping for a musical evolution and revolution in Kochi.
Words*: Abdul Manaf
Photo: The Muse Room
*The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of WtzupCity.com.
