AMID THE SCARE, ONLINE PARTY TOH BANTI HAI!
Singers and musicians have taken the live music scene online in the wake of Covid-19
When everything is shut down due to the outbreak of coronavirus, people are bound to get bored to death! In such times, music artistes are adding a touch of entertainment to people’s lives by performing live on various social media platforms. On Sunday, singermusic director Ankur Tewari performed a live gig through his Instagram handle.
When contacted, Tewari said, “There were two reasons to do it. One was obviously to uplift the mood of people who are locked inside their houses and have nothing much to do. Second was to help them get rid of the anxiety. In solitude, people do get anxious and music helps to heal them.”
After the virtual gig, people flooded him with thank you notes for keeping their spirit high in times of social isolation. “The viewers were double than expected,” added the singer, who tagged others from his industry asking them to join in. Tewari says, “I approached many of them and they agreed.”
One of the artistes, who was approached by Tewari is actor-playback singer-writer Swanand Kirkire. He, too, came on social media, and performed live on Monday evening. “It’s Ankur’s idea and I loved it. Everyone is in isolation as a preventive measure, and people look out for means of entertainment. It’s easy to get into depression when in a state of isolation. So, why not have an online party?” adds Kirkire.
Delhi-based independent singer Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, who also joined the live jamming, says, “So many of my gigs got cancelled and there is nothing much to do. So, I’ll be doing live acts through my social media accounts. And it’s anyway better than scrolling social media and reading how you are going to die.” While these artists intend to ask more from their industry to join
in, and perform for audiences online, Indian rapper, Baba Sehgal, has gone a step further and made a video titled Namaste, to spread awareness about Covid-19. Sehgal explains, “I was watching the news and saw videos of Donald Trump and Prince Charles doing namaste. So, I came up with an idea to spread awareness through a song. It’s a serious matter and what could be better than creating a song, which is fun and informative. My second corona song will also focus around this.”
Internationally, too, musicians John Legend, Keith Urban and English band Coldplay are doing concerts via an Instagram live stream.