MUMBAI: The decision to join the Indie space started bubbling inside Sangeeth Ram while he was in college. Now, it has become the ‘bread and butter’ for the young organiser and artist manager. Since establishing his very own company- Sound-Awake in 2013, all by himself, the Bengaluru-based bloke has also managed to pull off a two-day festival – The Mighty Rock Union earlier this year, and is now chalking out plans to take four music acts to tour the UAE.
The Mighty Rock Union, which attracted over 1800 people over two days at Counter Culture, Bengaluru from 23 to 24 May, was Ram’s first major gig. The festival featured names like Avial, Motherjane, The Down Troddence, Thaikkudam Bridge, Chaos, Girish and the Chronicles, Black Letters, Mad Orange Fireworks, Overtone, White Mug, When Chai Met Toast, Suraj Mani The Tattva Tripper, Vidwan and Live Banned. Commenting on the fest, Ram said, “With a team of eight to ten, we pulled off a festival in Bengaluru. We started planning the first edition of the festival in January this year. Initially, the plan was to organise the fest in Calicut, however, due to lack of interest from sponsors, we decided against it.”
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For the music fest, Ram managed to bag Bhima Jewellers, along with many other associates. Unfortunately, the Indian jewellery group was its only (paid) sponsor. The good news, however, is that after the festival, many brands have started to show interest in his IP, Ram said.
This is start of big plans for Ram, as he intends to take The Mighty Rock Union to cities across the country. However, this might not happen this year, considering NH7 Weekender dates have been announced, and he does not want his festival to collide with one of the biggest indie festivals in the country. “We are planning to take the IP to four or five other cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. But for this, we are thinking of getting veteran bands and musicians from the Indie space.” Ram who books Indie artists and manages bands like The Down Troddence and When Chai Met toast, plans to organise The Mighty Rock Union in July every year.
Revealing further his plans for Carnatic bands, Ram, who books gigs for 90 odd acts stressed, “There are many bands that play Carnatic fusion music and I am trying to take these bands outside India as most promoters are getting international acts to the country. However, no one is trying to make Indian names popularly globally.”
As part of his UAE plan, Ram is taking four bands on a four-city tour. He confirmed that Avial will be among the four bands to travel to cities like Muscat, Ras al-Khaimah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Ram is optimistic that the band will be able to pull around 3000-4000 people during their tour in each city. Commenting on music preference in UAE and India, Ram said, “In India, Indie music is appreciated, however, in UAE, while artists are paid well, not many appreciate the music. Maybe this is because in the UAE, Bollywood music and commercial music is given more relevance as compared to indie music.” The UAE tour is expected to take place between 27 November and 3 December this year.
As part of a long-term plan, Sound-Awake hopes to take The Mighty Rock Union to an international audience after covering cities in the country.
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