Indian Rock Bands Stay Away From Baajaa Gaajaa

One would imagine that an expo on independent music would attract Indian indie rock musicians and record labels in droves. Considering that individuals from both these groups are constantly whinging about how they constantly have to battle Bollywood, the seminars, discussions and general networking opportunities that the recently concluded Baajaa Gaajaa offered weren’t attraction enough for most of them to make the trip to Pune between Feb 6 and 8. Ryan Sadri from Something Relevant was the only indie musician we spotted over the two days we spent at Baajaa Gaajaa who wasn’t performing, speaking at or otherwise associated with the event (these included all of Swarathma, Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean, Gaurav Vaz of The Raghu Dixit Project and Brute Force, who are based in Pune anyway). Blue Frog Records and Phat Phish found out it convenient enough to sell their CDs through the Counter Culture Records stall instead of taking up one of their own, and maybe giving rise to the possibility of meeting some great unsigned indie artist. Even many of CCR’s own artists didn’t show.

What kept them away? Distance is a lame excuse – we made it back to our homes in Mumbai in less than three-and-half hours, about the same time it takes to get to Andheri some days. Money could not have possibly been a deterrant (the events were for free, the stalls cost only Rs 10,000).

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It’s this kind of lethargy on the part of the Indian indie rock community that prevents the genre from becoming as big as it could be. Like most such events, Baajaa Gaajaa may not have generated many answers, but it provided plenty of food for thought and a little bit of introspection is something almost every Indian indie label and musician could do it with. For instance, a large part of the audience was made up of Indian classical musicians, who may have provided a label such as Blue Frog, whose club features an Indian classical/fusion act on dry days, an interesting new artist to host or sign. But it’s not just the Frog, even bands such as Lounge Piranha, Thermal and a Quarter, and Parikrama (whose stall was unmanned and empty sans a poster) who have been pioneers in building a loyal fanbase for their indies sounds without the support of a label (either major or indie) were conspicious by their absence.

Even if they felt that they had nothing to learn from it, they could have come and shared their experience and helped their fellow indie folk by telling them just how they made it so far. Ultimately, the lack of  participation could not save Baajaa Gaajaa (which had its share of small but significant high points: the “world premiere” of Jaideep Verma’s rockumentary on Indian Ocean, a Q&A with KJ Singh, a recreation of an 1871 Indian classical music concert), from becoming a criminally wasted opportunity.