A rooftop in Safdarjung, a friend who arranged sound, and enough nerve to call it a show. That was 2018. Six years and 200 acts later, Ankit, guitar luthier, turned promoter, is still doing it for the love of it, a lakh richer or poorer depending on the gig.
If an artist played their first real show, there’s a high chance Ankit was the one who booked them for it. As a promoter, you’re the soul of the scene. You push and propel artists while bearing the liability. If anything goes right, it’s the artist who did it. If anything goes wrong, it’s the promoter who did it.
Ankit didn’t set out to become a promoter. He set out to give his friends somewhere to play. He still does this till this day…
How did it all start?
When we started in May 2018, there was no vision as such… We were at the roof of my house, a couple of us. Someone said, ‘I got sound’. A couple of friends were musicians… We did the first one without promotions. A friend made a logo, and we started doing shows at houses of my friends.
At my friend’s house in Safdarjung in 2018, we hosted three bands including Zenguin and a 100+ people showed up! Then Anti Art Fair approached us to curate.
I met the owner of Summer House and Auro at Casa Danza. I had an idea for ‘Space Day’ for Auro which I pitched to the guys. 10 April 2022, we started ‘Space Day’, one-day-multi-genre-festival, with music, arts and more.
400+ people showed up! That led to Space Session Wednesdays at Summer House where four years later we have hosted almost 200 acts!
What was your background? What are some achievements?
I am a guitar builder. That’s how I know all the musicians…
Bawari Basanti’s debut show, Kamakshi’s tour, Hanita Bhambri, Ali Safuddin, Saby… We used to do house shows in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore. My friends became community managers of different states…
We handled curations for festivals such as Motorama, Voodoo Valley, AntiArtFair, Locals District, etc. Made an IP called Space Bazaar, Indie Open Mic.
What was your purpose?
There was no purpose. We were just doing it. It wasn’t planned. My friends were stressed since there were no shows so we started organizing ourselves.
What were the challenges?
Small ticket size, initially. Since at the roof of a house only about 60-70 people could fit. I had such good friends that all the challenges were totally taken care of…
What have been the highlights?
In the early days, hosting all the emerging artists – Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Bawari Basanti, Kamakshi Khanna, Ali Safuddin, Samar Mehdi, Saby…
Space Day, the first venue show, because I had never done a venue show ever. I was playing small before. It was such a simple model at the house gigs: the tickets went to the artist. Space Day was a booking model where I had booked each artist at a fee. At that time, I didn’t even know whether there would be a revenue! I had never done something at the scale of making a P&L.
We hosted Darzi, Pho, Dhanji, before they blew-up. At one Space Day, we paired older artists: Shadow and Light, Anirudh Varma Collective, Zokova, Curtain Blue, Komorebi, with up-and-coming artists.
Have you faced losses?
Plenty of times.
You bear these losses? Why? How?
The last-to-last edition of Space Day, I lost about one lakh rupees! I had to do multiple gigs to pay everyone off. It happens quite a bit. Once, a brand came on board, then closed. They promised one lakh rupees per month for Summer House and eventually paid ‘nothing’.
I called Pacifist from Bombay. 300+ people at Summer House! I couldn’t reach the controller…
That’s the only way. You keep doing and you recover. You lose money from indie, you make money from indie, you put money back into indie…
Who are your favourites?
Gauley Bhai, definitely!
Komodo Jane, Zenguin, Darzi, Dhanji. I like Dohnraj a lot! Also, Amartya Ghosh… Saby, Samar and Ali are another league! Daira and Bombay Lights are very good.
Are sound rentals a challenge?
To do it at Summer House, I actually bought a second-hand-drum-kit, mics, mixer, etc. I used to bring all the equipment in my old car. The funniest thing is that only I could sit after all the equipment was inside. We would carry it upstairs…
I am lucky, Sidhu, our sound vendor, loves indie music. He used to be sound engineer of a metal band, so he supports us. The prices we get… is because this guy has a deep regard for music.
It is more about people rather than the economics?
The economics doesn’t exist. If they give me 100 rupees, I have to spend 98 rupees to do it all. For the love of it, everyone does it. There is no money. Sometimes, if I get 100 rupees, I have to spend 105 rupees, and give the rest from my pocket…
Favourite venue in Delhi?
Summer House…
The lines between commercial and indie have blurred in the recent few years. What do you think is going to happen to indie music in the coming years?
Prateek Kuhad used to charge 5,000 once. He takes 25,00,000 today. Same goes for Seedhe Maut or PCRC. You can say they have gone commercial but their sound hasn’t really changed. These are just terminologies. Indie stays indie even if it becomes big. PCRC will stay PCRC no matter how big the band becomes…
