Srikanto Acharya on US gigs: I am not a rock musician and hence, I prefer intimate shows

The live music industry has suffered immensely due to the pandemic in the past few years. Since the last year, slowly live shows have begun. Durga Puja marks the busiest time for the live performance as many of them travel abroad for shows. After a hiatus of a few years, Srikanta Acharya is all geared up to tour the US. Along with Subhamita Banerjee, he will perform in different cities during the Durga-Puja season in October. In a chat with OTTplay, the veteran singer talks about how he is looking forward to it. 

Srikanto has been going to the US since 2000. Talking about his experience of performing abroad, he said it has been a ‘brilliant’ experience so far. “There are two advantages to performing abroad. First, in Kolkata and Bengal, we are overexposed. Abroad, we are not. There, people wait to listen to us. They hear us on YouTube and Spotify and wait for our live shows. Hence, I feel, I enjoy a sense of liberty. They allow us to sing a variety of songs and they are also more patient.” 

But that’s not all. Gigs abroad let the singer meet a larger group of audience. “The second advantage of performing abroad is, a large group of our audience abroad is the Bangladeshi diaspora. That is a delight. For whatever music I have done for so many years, I received tremendous love from Bangladeshi audiences. I have been there multiple times. I somehow feel they are a little bit more passionate about Bengali music in general. When I perform abroad, I meet Bangladeshi fans and I see their passion and love. That is something I love,” he said. 

Srikanto and Subhamita have performed before in Berngal. This will be the first time they will perform in duet shows abroad. “It has almost been 15-16 times that I went on a US tour and performed. But there is a difference between this trip and the others – this one is not a trip for solo shows. This time, Shubhamita and will perform together. When you perform together, it becomes important that your wavelengths match and you two are compatible. I like Shubhamita personally. The kind of music that she and practice build natural chemistry in our shows. We have done such shows before here in India. Our music is best enjoyed in intimate spaces. We are not rock musicians and hence huge auditorium concerts are not for us. We sing Rabindrasangee, retro and contemporary Bengali modern songs, a little bit of gazal, and so on. I also love to talk and interact with my audience. With these shows, we have a possibility of exchanging with our audience,” said the musician.