Get your favourite bands and musicians to your backyard with Sofar Sounds, an international music community, that organises secret gigs in unconventional settings across the world. One can sign up on Sofar’s website and choose to be a host, listener or a performer.
The London-based initiative is now collaborating with Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation for human rights, to run a worldwide series of gigs called Give a home, that aims to raise funds for refugees by holding about 300 concerts in 200 cities. "We must come together to ask the government to live up to India's long tradition of opening its doors to people in distress. Initiatives, like Give a Home, can help us unite to build a community through music and fight fear and prejudice," says Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International.
The global music festival scheduled for September 20th will feature popular musicians from the city – Arpit Chourey, Ferdinand D’Souza and Murthonic.
For the uninitiated, Sofar Sounds is a world music organisation that gets artistes and listeners together. Each city has a leader (organiser) responsible for booking bands and private locations for concerts. Active in many cities across the globe, Hyderabad opened its own chapter (as it is referred to) in May this year. Since then, five shows have been organised and the response has only gotten better, says Arjuna Prasad, Sofar Sounds Hyderabad Leader.
The idea behind this community is to encourage musicians to compose original music and perform for a specific intimate audience. “It’s usually free, though voluntary donations are accepted. We look for new venues — usually a living room because they provide a more intimate experience. The venue for each edition, as the concept’s rule goes, is not disclosed until a day before,” adds the 30-year-old.
The process to attend a Sofar concert is quite easy. When registrations open, you log in, add your details, and specify how many people would like to attend with you. You will later be notified if you have made it to the guest list. Once confirmed, you do another registration and you’re done.
On September 20, 8.30 pm.
Details: sofarsounds.com/giveahome/city/hyderabad