Anyone who enjoys listening to live English music in Chennai has had the same old nagging complaint for years. A 2012 article in The Rolling Stones of retired electro-rock band Adam & The Fish Eyed Poets says, “The thing is there is only one venue in Chennai [Star Rock]. It’s very hard for standalone pubs to function here, so the music scene is quite dead.”

Musicians have tried tirelessly to foster a ‘new band performing at the local pub’ culture but have only had a handful of venues like Palomar’s Spotted Deer and Savera’s Bay 146, that have opened their doors to performers. Let’s not even begin speaking of the acoustics.

An interesting phenomenon has however emerged to fill the gap recently. Aficionados running cafes and owning private alcoves have begun metamorphosing their spaces to become patrons of the arts. The Alwarpet cafe Vinyl and Brew and the travelling Sofar gigs have become alternate spaces to enjoy listening to new bands and a variety of interesting music. More importantly, both these spaces seem to be demanding undivided attention and participation from an invested audience. This has led to shows being wildly entertaining. One can also see musicians performing in their element, nearly communicating with their instruments.

The audience tunes in
| Photo Credit:
SHANTANU KRISHNAN

The latest to join this list of intimate music spaces delivering certifiably great performances is The Nook. Located above Kawai Piano on Anna Salai, this new venue, fashioned out of an old office space, was started by four musicians in June. Azan Sherif, Vishnu Reddy, Kashyap Jaishankar and Sahib Singh, met as students of Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in Pondicherry in 2013. After having played with different bands for many years and discovering their own niches, the team of four decided that it was time to create a space of their own to listen to other exciting artistes.

The first official gig of The Nook on July 16 sold out days after they posted the announcement. Their Neo-Soul Night with their in-house band ‘Room Service’ encompassing the four musicians, and other performers including Ananya Gope, Rahul Vanamali, Pranav RV, Wesley Crispus and Gooth, delivered smooth and unusual covers of today’s most interesting artistes. The set list included a jazz version of the pumpy Return of the Mack by British R&B singer Mark Morrison. Besides this, there were covers of phenomena like Erykah Badu and Childish Gambino. It is safe to say that the 50-member audience did not stop grooving. Think NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert but slightly bigger.

Drummer Vishnu Reddy
| Photo Credit:
SHANTANU KRISHNAN

“Chennai lacks a space made by musicians for musicians. We have played the usual circuit including the bars. The other spectrum is Museum Theatre. Independent musicians may not have the ability to rent and fill up a 1,000-seater hall. That’s when spaces like The Nook come in. We have no PA systems or mixers. You really get to see what a musician is doing,” says Sahib, co-founder of The Nook and band leader of Jatayu.

Sahib says that something magical arises when a musician is truly comfortable in a performance space. Here, one can touch, feel and visualise the sound. It is why they are planning to open the space up for several interesting performances every month. Their next concert, scheduled to be on August 17, will be by the Tamil Jazz Collective. Led by vocalist and composer Harini Iyer, the performance will be a retelling of Tamil music set to jazz notes.

Wesley and Sahib, playing at the first gig.
| Photo Credit:
SHANTANU KRISHNAN

“All of us from the band listen to different kinds of music — jazz, rhythm and blues, neo-soul, hiphop. We are looking to discuss any experimental music and seeing how the space can fit the vibe. We also want to open the space up for events and to record our own music-related content,” Sahib says.

To follow details of performances at The Nook, follow @the_nook_chennai.