With a burgeoning population of young people from across the country making their way to the city, Bengaluru has come more alive with diverse communities formed, yearning for connection. From boardgame sessions and reading meetups to vinyl listening sessions – you name it, Bengaluru has a club or community for it. A latest addition are jam sessions, which are thriving with several different communities popping up in the last year. “We started in 2023 when there were only a few jamming communities. In the last one and a half years, it has become quite big – almost every week, there’s a new jamming event popping up,” notes Giridhar Rai, founder of Bajabies, a jamming community, adding, “I’ve also seen a lot of cafes organising them because it increases footfall.”
A typical jam session involves a couple of musicians starting a song, with the rest of the crowd joining in spirited singing, like one big game of unstructured Antakshari. As Elvin Ady, one of the co-founders of Mic n’ Mehfil, explains, the appeal seems to be the jam sessions’ free-flowing format and inclusivity, regardless of musical abilities. “To be honest, I am a horrible singer, but jam sessions are not just for people who sing but also for those who listen. It’s about giving people a space to sing without any judgment.”
But what makes it different from an intimate concert or open mic? Anushka Modi, the co-founder of Maybe It’s A Jam, shares, “The engagement is much more than a usual band or concert, we make them feel like performers.” These sessions and their warm environment have also helped people shed their inhibitions, notes Mamta Nayak, a frequent attendee, saying, “The energy is such that you automatically start to sing, even shy people go up on stage and join in.”
Keeping in mind the diverse abilities and musical knowledge of their audiences, the playlist keeps changing. While the retro Bollywood or Bollywood hits from the 2000s and 2010s are popular choices, some have taken an offbeat route, organising Bhojpuri or Punjabi sessions too. According to Modi, Sufi music is quite popular even among young adults. “The playlist we curate is impromptu and done with the view to encourage singing. So if someone starts singing DK Bose, we will just pick it up and sing together. The engagement is much more than a normal band or concert; we make them feel like they are all the performers,” she adds.
Despite the bend towards single youth, families and older people too are spotted at these events. “One group consists of young peoplebetween 20 and 25 who lovemusic and want to perform, while another is people in their 50s or retirees who come for events to listento old Hindi songs, sing along and dance together,” notes Ady.
Organisers note that while college-goers and young professionals make up most of the crooners, these sessions are particularly popular among those who have recently moved to the city. “Many who have just landed in the city recently and don’t know a lot of people are just going out to find people who share their love for music, and to seek a different experience from going out to bars or restaurants,” says Rai.
While not catering only to professional musicians, these events draw a lot of them in, with Modi noting that some bands have been born from these sessions. “We have seen multiple groups [of strangers] getting formed by just hanging together. I love that they’ve become a kind of family. Many have formed bands out of our sessions because their vibes just matched,” she says.