04 May The New Normal S01E02: ft. Joy Singh
The only show in Europe – Plan B, a venue with a long history of unorthodoxy in Sweden, continues to put on shows – capped at audiences of 40 – as the continent endures lockdown. In a room that can hold 350, capacity is restricted to 40 punters – plus a sound engineer, two members of staff and the band, bringing the number up to the guidelines of 50 people in total. The original plan was to have everyone seated, but this was scrapped due to impracticality. Punters are not allowed to walk up to the bar; card machine-wielding staff operate a table service of sorts by milling around the crowd taking orders.
Will this be the new normal?
Hello! Our next guest on the quest to navigate through these testing times is Goumtesh (Joy) Singh. Joy is the co-founder and partner at Raasta, the Carribean Lounge (Hauz Khas Village, Cyber Hub and Bombay) and Yeti – The Himalyan Kitchen ( Hauz Khas Village, Cannaught Place, South Point Mall Gurgaon and Khar Bombay). Started in 2012, Raasta is one of the oldest venues in the city and has hosted numerous gigs and events. It has been instrumental in discovering and promoting the new talent spread in our country by encouraging newer and fresher talents to come over to Raasta, showcase their talent.
Venues play a vital role in the music business chain. It can literally be boiled down to something as basic as –
No Venues = No Shows
While chatting with Abhilash, we managed to get a peek into how the booking of gigs might look in the future, this next turn our lost Uber driver took, has got us to another confusing roundabout…
How exactly are the venues coping at the moment and what could be their new normal? According to bioethicist Zeke Emanuel , “Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return. Realistically we are looking at Fall 2021.” (Article: nme.com)
I’ve been constantly thinking about this and for someone who used to be at some or the other venue watching a gig almost every week – this pause has been quite a different experience. I reminisce those weekends when I would step out to catch a gig at a nearby club, meet friends, make new ones and find new inspirations. Now a usual Friday/Saturday is spent resorting to the power of imagining a gig at home, cueing a four on floor, pretending to be enjoying a lot while the only groove that’s actually transcending is the rhythm of “Corona Go – Go Corona – Corona Go” looped
(fun fact: Recently, a Facebook group named “A group where we all pretend to be in a music festival” was initiated by @sarthak.bohemianlive of @bohemianlive wherein netizens gathered and exchanged hilarious real experiences of going to an imaginary music festival. The group, since it’s inception has received hundreds of posts by enthusiastic participants!)
With the lock down now extended for another two weeks, hearing Joy’s take as a venue owner became even more pertinent so I sent him some questions for his insights and directions. Here are his thoughts :
How has the current situation impacted your business?
Being in the business of social gathering and interaction, ours is probably the most affected industry. In India, hospitality venues such as Raasta come under the category of “assembly areas”. Hence, in times when social distancing is the need of the hour, we are definitely deeply affected by the COVID-19 spread in the country. It has brought the entire industry to a halt.
As a venue, how was it dealing with the early cancellations of shows that started coming in?
The safety of our workforce and our guests has always been our top priority. When we learnt that the virus was spreading with such intensity all over the world, we had to take measures to keep our community safe. We had to act fast and thus decided to hold off all our ongoing / upcoming events at once. This is the first time ever in the history of Raasta, that we had to cancel shows / gigs. Even though things were tricky, we are quite glad that our associates were understanding about the situation and our decision.
How according to you will the performance industry change for when times are getting better. What will be the new normal for artists and venues in the future?
Social distancing is going to be a huge part of the new normal. For at least the next year, until a vaccine is readily available in a cost effective manner, the events will probably take place with the following considerations –
a) We will probably see booking of domestic artists more commonly as it will be much easier and convenient until a travel advisory / guidelines are released in relation to organisng international tours / acts
b) The events that we do organize will be contingent on strict and intensive crowd control. As for full blown gigs, those seem to be a bit far in the future for now.
Have you and your team been looking into enforcing extra hygiene and safety control measures at your venue? If yes, could you share some of those points.
Yes indeed we have. It is our responsibility to make sure that nobody feels uncomfortable and to keep our place safe and hygienic to the extent possible. Some of the measures that we are taking towards this are –
- Placards that say “Maintain Distance” between tables so everyone feels comfortable.
- Keeping sanitizers for all customers on the table. Walk-ins will be asked to sanitize their hands on entering the outlet as well.
- Our staff will be wearing gloves and masks. There will be minimal contact between the staff members and the customers.
- We’ll be shifting to digital menus (which not only eliminates contact between our staff and the customer but also helps our team focus more on delivery of the order)
- Delivery rails
- And if capital allows, we would like to invest in a bar bot as well.
We’ll be constantly working on enforcing new ideas to make all our outlets a safe space.
From a venue point of view – will showcasing performances even be a preferred avenue in the future?
To be very honest, I don’t see dance events happening in the near future. However, if a vaccine does become available, then things can probably go back to where they were before the world came to this. Even that will happen at its own sweet pace and not anytime soon. Today, as a venue, I feel we will have to rethink our programming strategy and focus more on sit down performances or come up with new forms of socially engaging activities that can be done while maintaining a safe social distance. All this will be quite essential to ensure we can continue to be a viable business entity while at the same time re envisioning our ethos of providing a space for fun and entertainment for our patrons.
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From floral centerpieces to sanitizers on the table, might sound like a small change but for sure holds a much deeper meaning moving forward. That’s kind of how I’ve started to feel this new normal is going to be like. The feelings, emotions and desires of the long gone normal taking a rest in an ice cube tray freezing and shaping to become a new something. As much as I’d like to order my food with a digital menu I for sure will miss the feeling of playing or even attending a gig at a packed venue. Glad to have had Joy’s thoughts on these current times.
If you’d like to continue the dialogue, you can find Joy on Instagram (@goumtesh ).
Up next we have Aneesha Kotwani, a music enthusiast associated in a leading capacity with multiple outfits – Wavlngth, Humans of Music and She Said So Mumbai
Stay safe stay tuned!
Photos Credit: Raasta
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