Live shows resume but Swaraag misses the college crowd: They are most enthusiastic and energetic

The live music industry is slowly reviving itself amid the pandemic, and Jaipur-based folk fusion music band, Swaraag, are making the most of this change, and are getting back to the live performance scene.

“It was a ray of hope when we started again after taking an extensive break in August because so many people were anxiously waiting for our next show. Swaraag has a string of satisfied clients, and because of them, we started performing again and were swamped up with bookings and were literally out of date,” shares lead singer Asif Khan.

With new government rules, the band moved to private show and also started performing at clubs. “But we really miss the college crowd. They are the most enthusiastic and energetic bunch of people. The market had already shaken due to the pandemic, but the event industry remained seasonal, especially with private gigs being more popular now than public ones during this time. Nevertheless, these difficulties only served as motivators, and we grew significantly,” Asif adds.

Talking about the difference between pre and post-pandemic live scene, Zitar player Arif Khan says that post-pandemic, the number of college shows and club performances has reduced significantly.

“Earlier the lockdown cap was 6pm as per the government rules, and therefore we didn’t receive a great crowd attendance. But with more flexible rules in the coming months, we started performing more in closed spaces. We miss the energy of the crowd,” says Arif.

He also adds how it was quite a challenge for musicians but he is hopeful now, as “with digitisation, artistes can now create music on their own with no professional backing”.

The pandemic situation did bring with it a new set of challenges for the band to tackle. During the first lockdown in 2020, they had to cancel many shows, and with the sudden halt to public appearances, they had to take a break for about five months.

“While everything was moving slowly and there was no surety about what would happen next, Swaraag had a very fulfilling time as it bestowed us with an opportunity to deliver excellence and multifold upgrades. We experimented, created mashes, gave more time to riyaaz, and recorded more songs. We picked up again from August 2020, and since then, there has been no going back. We were jam-packed and had been receiving a lot of love from the public,” says founder and team coach of the band Pratap Singh.