The month of March was marked by mass cancellations of cultural and arts events. Be it music concerts, movie shoots, book fairs, literary festivals, or gallery exhibits, everything took a hit as governments locked down major parts of their respective countries and banned public gatherings in order to quell the spread of Covid-19. Confined within their homes in observance of the social distancing guidelines, the artists, however, wouldn’t hang up their boots. Many of them saw quarantine as an opportunity to reconnect with their audiences, albeit in the virtual world.

For musicians, in particular, this has meant live-streaming their concerts on subscription-free social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Today, more and more singers and composers from around the world are posting daily streams. Wajhi Farouki, the lead vocalist of Raeth, a 14-year-old Sufi pop/rock band from Karachi, had a loftier aim when he put together an Instagram live recently, featuring the young Bangladeshi folk singer, Indira Majumdar, remotely, with help from their mutual friend from India, Kinjal Bhattacharya, a talent manager by profession. They cleverly titled it Anti Corona India-Pak Concert.

The session, which lasted for about an hour, turned out to be a success, judging from the large number of people who watched it live and also in terms of the positive feedback that Farouki, Majumdar and Bhattacharya say they received. The News On Sunday chats with the musical trio on conference call, regarding what Farouki dubs as a “trendsetting concert, after which we saw many other Pakistani artists collaborating with their Indian counterparts.”

Best known for his maiden track, Bhula dau, Farouki is no stranger to India. He crossed the border circa 2010 and lived in Mumbai for the next eight years, during which he signed up with Universal Music, one of India’s biggest music companies, and toured the country extensively with his troupe, besides giving playback for the Bollywood movie, Zanjeer (2013).

Raeth became a rage with the youth and was routinely invited to college/university gigs. That’s where Farouki came into contact with Majumdar, whose six-member band Ujaan (Bangla for upstream) was another popular musical act on college circles, and Kolkatta-based Bhattacharya who was not only famous for promoting new talent under his company BandEdge but especially for his yearly Sounds of Peace concerts, which typically engaged artists from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. For the past two years he had had to forgo the Pakistani participation due to the tense situation between the two neighbouring nations. However, they got back together for the Instagram live during quarantine.

“We thought that this was one joint venture which we didn’t need to take permissions for,” says Bhattacharya, excitedly. “Also, I believe that artists, as a community, are very socially-responsible. They want to entertain, but would also come out to help the society in a crisis. Amid coronavirus outbreak, the artists have started interacting with their fans more, in the hope that it can make them [the fans] stay at home and practice social distancing.”

According to Majumdar, “People who are trapped in their homes are frustrated. Suddenly there’s nothing much [for them] to do. As an artist when you speak to your fans, it makes a huge impact. I think this [Anti Corona Concert] was how I could contribute along with our music. I was privileged to do that.

“I was not only representing Bangladesh but also India where I have lived since completing my high school,” she adds. “There’s a lot of history between Bangladesh and Pakistan that we’ve read about in books. But when it comes to music, you forget the war and the violence, and somehow find a beautiful connection between these countries. It’s probably because of the language we are very comfortable with, and probably because we understand the emotions. So, if you see it from a musical point of view, I don’t think there can ever be a war between the three countries.”

Majumdar says that they had designed a poster for the concert which was uploaded on Ujaan’s Facebook page, a day before they went live. Bhattacharya’s company promoted it in India while Farouki’s PR agency was instrumental in spreading the word in Pakistan. “It was very exciting for me, the way Wajhi Sir interacted with all his Indian fans,” she continues. “I also got a lot of response from Pakistan which was lovely. It’s a big honour when somebody from the other country appreciates your work.

“Before we went live, Wajhi Sir was saying, ‘zyada kuch nahi karein ge’ (we won’t do a lot of things), 20 minutes is fine! But it went on for almost an hour.”

Majumdar, who also sings Assamese, Marathi and Gujarati folk, presented Bangla songs at the live session, while Farouki belted out his popular tracks like Tum Meri Ho and Waada. Together they sang a fan-requested cover of Mast qalandar. They would space out every two songs with a lively conversation with the audience. No instruments were played during the session.

Majumdar recalls how “we were constantly talking to our audience, asking them to tell us what they were doing sitting at home, what precautions they had taken, how were they utilising their time etc. Then we’d sing a song, and return to the conversation. It was something where we had fun, and our audience had fun.”

All of them agree that an online concert is an uncharted territory. As Majumdar puts it, “Everybody right now is trying to figure out what to do on an online gig. For people who aren’t technically savvy, it’s rather difficult to know how to put the entire thing together and present it nicely.”

“I think live-streaming is very new for artists anywhere in the world,” Farouki adds. “We are all exploring it together.”

Talking about the difference between performing on stage and before a virtual audience, Bhattacharya says, “At a concert, you’ve got a playlist ready, but here it was largely impromptu.”

He also speaks of “artists’ inner satisfaction [which] will probably come from a live show only, because of the energy that they feel on stage vis-à-vis the energy the people in front of them are radiating. There’s no substitute for happy crowds singing along, jumping with joy, head-banging etc. None of this experience can be replicated in an Instagram live session.

“In fact, a live online session can be difficult for the artist considering that there’s a constant stream of comments that you are seeing on the screen; this can be quite distracting.”

Bhattacharya, who was present throughout the concert, also compares it to a “house party, where you have friends coming in and enjoying the performances over cups of tea. That kind of intimacy was there. It seemed like all of us — Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, foreigners — were sitting in a single room.”

As for the audience response, Farouki says, “I was pleased to see that there were no negative comments from anyone.” Majumdar seconds him: “No one brought up religion or political issues; it was pure music that people wanted to listen to.”