HYDERABAD: “Jalsa... Jalsa!” The cosy art space in Banjara Hills booms with the voices of over a hundred people singing the Pawan Kalyan song all at once with vigour. The fifth session of ‘Micless with Merakee’ this Sunday held at Nritya Forum was dedicated to Pawan Kalyan on the occasion of his birthday on September 2.
The heavy downpour did not stop scores of these music fans - regulars to these sessions and otherwise - to flock to the venue help out the band to move the event inside and help with the extra touches like posters of the Tollywood star turned politician. With Ganesh, the lead singer the band consists of Manohar Sujith (lead guitarist), Sunny Anantarapu (guitarist), Elia V (pianist) and Vishal Sagar (drummer) getting the crowd in the mood.
Band Merakee which is known for being the Telugu cover band that gets the party-goers grooving at night clubs in the city started Micless with Merakee as a medium to connect with music lovers and create a niche for themselves.
“This is free for all event and even the cost of the venue or the carpets or coolers during the summers come out of our pocket. It isn’t much - just barely about Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 and we don’t mind putting in that much for all the love we get in these sessions,” says Ganesh Krovvidi, the lead singer of the band. So how did this idea come about? “Our manager, Vidya once called us all up to a coffee shop where she got chatting with the owners if we could do a sing-along session there. We came up with a name instantly and voila the first session happened at Terrassen Cafe,” shares Ganesh.
The first session had a packed house says the team. “It was an experiment to see if people would show up at all. The place could only hold 40 people and it was so packed that there were people on the stairs and people leaving because they had nowhere to stand. Right from the second session we had over a 100 and there was no turning back,” says Vidya. Despite the persistent rain on Sunday, the audience was a strong 125.
To their credit, Ganesh and his team admit that the original concept was something that Vidya had seen in Chennai - Mottomaadi Music. “We reached out to Badri Sheshadri who headed these sessions and asked him if we could do the Telugu chapter of it and he agreed immediately. He was in fact glad that we even asked for permission as apparently no one else did. He did not even ask for royalty and he readily agreed to legally allow us to use the concept in Hyderabad,” explains Vidya, the manager and the host for these sessions.
Participants register on Band Merakee’s social media pages for the sessions that are scheduled once every month. “It is just to have an idea of how many people will be arriving so we can make arrangements,” says Ganesh. The setlist for that evening will be updated on their channels and the lyrics are posted in their blog for everyone to find them easily at the event. As it turns out, these events had become a fun evening get together for most of the visitors. Suchindra Timmaji Mailwar a regular to the sessions says, “I have made new friends right here. I could come here without company and by the time I leave have friends with me.
All of us are singing on the top of our lungs irrespective of how well or badly we sing. There is a sense of community in these sessions and it is very heartwarming.” He also adds, “It’s a nice break for those who enjoy Telugu live music but are tired of the loudness at night clubs.” “There is a bunch of 16 cousins who come in every time. This is their monthly get together ritual,” chimes in Ganesh.
Mottamadi Music
Badri Seshadri organised the first event as a little get together on his terrace in Chennai about a year ago. The idea was such a hit that not much later he had to shift these sessions to a larger venue.
A venue big enough to fit 1500. Mottamaadi Music became “Maaditorium”. The event is ticketed and the audience recieve a QR code along with their ticket. Scanning that code redirects them to the page consisting all the lyrics.
— Srividya Palaparthi
srividya.palaparthi@newindianexpress.com
@PSrividya53