Gigatainment along with Mumbai Guitar Day presents the first ever Online Guitar Festival during the unfortunate current Pandemic situation. The idea for Mumbai Guitar Day was brewing since a long time, to be precise in March last year. A date was also set in October, but the event did not materialize.  Whatever the reason, Guitar Day will finally take place Online on 6^th June 2020 at 4 pm. The Guitar Fest is in aid of the Musicians Covid Fund.

Gigatainment has partnered with Bengaluru organization Muzehub who have launched the Musicians COVID Fund. “A lot of musicians and singers are finding it hard surviving with no work. So I thought let’s look into something where we can raise some funds where we can help musicians in need “says Neil Banks of Gigatainment.

Why a Guitar Fest you may ask? The idea for this celebration, just like Drum Day and Piano Day, is to showcase talented Guitarists from the country and also renowned International Guitarists globally.

Neil Banks, Partner, Gigatainment, who has also successfully curated Mumbai Drum and Piano Day since the last 4 years, is excited on this new venture. He says “There is an immense amount of talented Guitar players not just in Mumbai, but all around the country. These guitarists are usually backing musicians who are never really known to the public. With Guitar Day, we plan to bring them up front and to take centre stage. We folks at Gigatainment have taken it upon ourselves to take the initiative and create an IP worthy of the guitar and we are excited to announce the launch of this unique event.”

The mission is to create an IP that will be etched in the hearts and minds of youth and music lovers for years to come. It will also an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of the guitar, be it acoustic, electric or both... the six strings that unite music fans across the globe.  Music lovers will experience the first ever evening of music celebrating the Guitar. And this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with the guitar.

This IP will endeavor to capture the hearts of our country’s guitar-crazy young and old alike, by producing the first such Guitar Fest on a grand scale in India.

The lineup for the showcase features Kolkata guitar whiz Rhythm Shaw, Mumbai axemen Shannon Pereira, Sheldon D’Silva, Chandresh Kudwa, Assam star Ronojoy Barooah, Chennai’s U Rajesh, Pune’s Vinay Kushal, to international artists like Jack Gardiner (UK), musician Ben Woods (US), Malaysian guitarist Adieu and many more.

So how did he go about picking the lineup, to this Banks says, “We all come from the music industry and kind of work with everyone. So it was just about picking up the phone and talking to them [the artists], getting the go-ahead through the relationship we share.”

The entire concert has been pre-recorded by the artists so that they do not incur internet network issues or lags while performing. “If you don’t get good sound it doesn’t make sense,” says Banks adding “Each musician has been given a 20-minute slot and Guitar Fest will also have an emcee in Rohan Sequeira to maintain an “auditorium feel.” Sequeira has also interviewed each performer over Zoom which will be shown after the musician has finished with their set. “So even the audience gets to know the artist better.”

While tickets start at ₹250, viewers can also donate to the Musicians COVID Fund, amounts ranging from ₹500 to ₹5,000. With the COVID 19 pandemic continuing unabated, would this be the forum for future events this year like Piano Day which is usually held in September”? Banks states, “We have also planned something in August during Independence Day and Piano Day in September, and yes, if the event does not happen in the auditorium, then we’re definitely doing it online.”

Banks has the last word and stresses that “Guitar Day is not a competition, but a platform for the young and not so young to be inspired and motivated by the finest Guitarists our country and the world have to offer”.

Guitar Fest is an online event like never before. Your donation through your ticket purchase would be of great value to this cause.

Log onto www.musicianscovidfund.com and book your ticket.

By Verus Ferreira