Artistes in Kerala venture to unconventional venues

“They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art,” remarked legendary American saxophonist Charlie Parker famously while stressing the need to defy the conventional standards of jazz music in the 1940s.

Over the last few years, it seems his idea has echoed with the artistes in Kerala too as they are increasingly looking outside the orthodox venues for performance arts. By hosting music concerts and performance arts on yachts, trains, buses and even inside the confines of an architect’s office, performers are looking away from conventional stages and auditoriums. We ask a few who have been leading the pack about their novel attempts and the feedback:

In search of new avenues

The most recent event in Kerala that ditched the usual auditorium setup and literally took to the waters was a music concert by a two-piece band,

Ginny and the Bottle

. The duo and their audience for the evening boarded a cruise ship and docked in the backwaters of Kochi for an hour-long gig.

One of the co-ordinators of the event, Ranjini Menon tells us, “Listening to music under the stars and over the water is a romanticised concept. So, when we are providing that ambience to the audience, it becomes an enriching experience.”

The show, she says, is in keeping with the organisers’ concept of “a stage can be anywhere where you can perform”. “We don’t want it to be a fixed place as it takes away the charm,” Ranjini says.

Thrissur-based alternative folk rock band

Oorali

had made a habit out of performing at off-beat venues. Their projects such as Art Bullets, in which they travelled from Thrissur to Bengaluru on motorbikes while stopping to perform at otherwise inaccessible sites, and

Oorali Express

, a bus that has been modified to serve as a tour bus and performing space, reversed the conventions by taking the show to the people.

The band’s guitarist Saji V says, “In Indian culture, there was never the idea of a proscenium. Most of the performances happened among the people. If you had to perform in an auditorium, you had to be part of a caucus; but if you are independent, then the entry is quite difficult.”

He also stresses that some of the stages in Kerala do not provide quality audio-visual experience that is required for a rock show. “When we go to perform at some of the venues, we have noticed coffin-like speakers and glaring lights that rob the entertainment quotient,” he says.

The band has performed across a variety of venues including trains, buses, streets and inside office spaces. “We don’t carry the heavy equipment at these sites. All we do is identify acoustic spaces; we have our own miniature speakers and mobile devices that function on batteries,” he says.

A novel experience for the audience and artistes
As far as the audience is concerned, a unique venue makes the overall experience memorable. Meriam Thomas, a school counsellor who had attended the yacht concert, tells us, “It had a bit of everything – music, food, fun and laughter. There was an hour-long cruise before the concert and food on the way back. The brilliant ambiance made it all the more unforgettable,” she says.

The change in venue is often a proactive effort from the artistes to challenge themselves too, says Kochi-based performance artiste Anil Dhayanand.

“When you are performing in a new space like in the centre of a crowd, you are making yourself vulnerable. If one person hits you, mob psychology will take over and you could be beaten to pulp. You don’t know what the reaction of the audience is going to be as it’s an entirely new experience for them too,” says Anil.

Terming that as the “artiste’s journey”, Saji says, “We have a theatre background as most of us studied at School of Drama, Thrissur. So, while performing at these venues such as a train where the audience is least expecting you, theatrics comes into play as you try to make a dramatic entry and then present the show. When artistes go through such processes, it also develops their consciousness.”

Meanwhile, Anil recalls an instance a few years ago when he had used a conventional exhibition venue for an unorthodox performance art. “A friend was hosting his painting exhibition at the Durbar Hall in Kochi and I thought why not try out a performance art in the midst of the unsuspecting audience,” he says.

The artiste wore a purdah that covered him from head to toe and ventured into the crowd. “Many just moved away. However, one Muslim teacher who figured out from my body language that I was a man, asked me, ‘Enthu thonisavamaado? (What nonsense are you doing?)’ I told her that I too feel like asking the same question when I see people in purdah,” he says. “Director T K Rajeev Kumar was also there at the venue and he told the teacher that I was using my freedom of expression the same way she was using hers.”

Taking art out of its confines
Another reason why several art and music shows are now looking for unorthodox stages is to keep the cost in check and adhere to their ideology. “When you are trying to make it as independent artistes, you don’t want to be plugged into the system,” he says.

Also, when artistes foray to new venues with their ventures, it encourages one-on-one interaction with the audience, says the artistes. “In an art exhibition, there’s hardly any communication between a visitor and the work, unless it haunts you or you are an art connoisseur or an art student,” Anil says. “But when the venues are changed, there is a chemistry at work in the minds of the audience and that’s a definite advantage as art is ultimately meant to push boundaries and question the society’s pre-conceived notions.”

Saji too agrees, saying, “Ultimately, art should be let free. It doesn’t have to be restricted to conventional spaces. Based on what’s happening in the world these days, we believe the world could use more of art in every nook and corner.”

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