Journalism of Courage
Heres a riddle: why are frogs so happy? Because they eat whatever bugs them. Bad jokes aside,theres a new amphibian in town,and the news is certainly music to our ears. After revolutionising the live music scene in Mumbai and then Delhi,the popular music venue blueFROG is opening its doors to music lovers in Pune on Thursday.
Located at Ishanya Mall,near the Golf Course,the Pune branch will be an 18,000 square feet-music haven,spreading through both indoor and outdoor areas. Apart from this,the venue will also have a separate amphitheatre,which can accommodate over 2,000 visitors. While Thursday will bring the first blueFROG gig in the city with British trance musicians Above and Beyond,the performance is to be a sort of curtain-raiser for the actual launch of the venue in December.
In the weeks leading up to the year-end launch,the music brand will introduce itself to the city in true blueFROG style,with about four to five different international acts to be performed at the amphitheatre in what has been titled as Amphibian Series.
Over the years,blueFROG has established itself as a widely popular music venue,with performances by international artistes such as John McLaughlin,Angelique Kidjo,Zakir Hussain,Anoushka Shankar and Armin Van Buuren. Its also come to be popular with local indie musicians who find a welcome platform to play their music to an informed and appreciative audience. The property is brought to the city in partnership with DICE Hospitality,headed by partners Ishan Bhale and Govind Thakkar.
Music has always been a part of the citys culture,and the people here are not just great lovers of music,but are also open to listening to a wide spectrum of it. The whole idea was to get blueFROG to the city so we can connect the audience to diverse musicians and their work, says Bhale.
While the arrangements for the club section of the venue is still under wraps,Bhale is enthused about the amphitheatre opening with a series of concerts by world music artiste Fatoumata Diawara from Mali,jazz group The Erik Truffaz Quartet from Switzerland,and DJ Miss Nine from the Netherlands. The series will have performances across different genres of music; this is our way of announcing to the city that were hoping to have gigs for each and every music lover,no matter their taste, says Bhale.
Once the venue is launched in December,Bhale hopes to see it build a community of people who love music and other performing arts. We want it to be a stepping stone for all sorts of performing arts so well have stand-up acts,theatre,Broadway,film and music festivals and film-appreciation sessions too, says Bhale.
