Gigatainment’s Online Guitar Fest Takes Place This Weekend
The lineup features musicians Rhythm Shaw, Shannon Pereira, Chandresh Kudwa and more
(From left) Musicians Rhythm Shaw, Shannon Pereira and Chandresh Kudwa will perform as part of Online Guitar Fest this weekend. Photos: Courtesy of the artists (Shaw, Pereira); Sunny Daimari
For the past four years, the sons of veteran Mumbai-based jazz musician Louiz Banks, Gino has been conducting a showcase called drum day while Neil of event agency Gigatainment has been curating piano day. This year, Gigatainment has decided to launch Guitar Fest. The concert will take place online on June 6th. “We could not take it to the auditorium because of the situation we are in at the moment. So hence we decided to take it online,” says Neil.
The poster for Online Guitar Fest.
The lineup for the showcase features Kolkata guitar whiz Rhythm Shaw, Mumbai axemen Shannon Pereira and Chandresh Kudwa, U.K. artist Jack Gardiner, U.S. musician Ben Woods, Malaysia guitarist Adieu and more. On how he went about picking the lineup, Neil says, “We all come from the music industry and kind of work with everyone. So it was just about picking up the phone and talking to them [the artists], getting the go-ahead through the relationship we share.”
Gigatainment has partnered with Bengaluru organization Muzehub who have launched the Musicians COVID Fund. “A lot of musicians and singers are finding it hard surviving with no work. So I thought let’s look into something where we can raise some funds where we can help musicians in need.”
The entire concert has been pre-recorded by the artists so that they do not incur network issues or lags while performing. “If you don’t get good sound it doesn’t make sense,” says Neil. Each musician has been given a 20-minute slot and Guitar Fest will also have an emcee in Rohan Sequeira to maintain an “auditorium feel.” Sequeira has also interviewed each performer over Zoom which will be shown after the musician has finished with their set. “So even the audience gets to know the artist better,” says Neil.
While tickets are priced at ₹250, viewers can also donate to the Musicians COVID Fund from ₹500 to ₹5,000. Ask Neil if he plans to do more events online going ahead and he says, “We have planned something in August during Independence Day. Then piano day by September, if it does not happen at the auditorium, then we’re definitely doing it online.” The organizer also urges folks to donate as much as they can towards the artists while we are in a pandemic, he says, “You’re doing something where we can give back to our musicians.”
Click here to buy tickets for Guitar Fest.
