Many people think I’m old-fashioned. The reason is that I hardly take any selfies with musicians, despite having so many opportunities. Even for a group selfie, I need to be dragged in.
Clearly, I seem like a misfit covering an industry where an increasing number of musicians, concert organisers, sponsors, fans and even mediapersons have been on a selfie-image promotion trip.
Who am I to crib? And to clarify, this tribe actually forms a very small section of the industry population. The truth is I have been noticing certain trends that seem a bit funny, and are even getting scary. For some musicians, selfies are now perhaps consuming as much time as riyaaz , going by the way they keep bombarding the social media with tonnes of assorted expressions.
Check some cases. These can be solo or group. If the show is in Mumbai, there are snaps of getting into, sitting in and getting out of the car. One solo taken on reaching the venue, followed by one with the person welcoming you. Three or four strangers then take their own pictures with the musician. Before-concert and after-concert poses are mandatory, to show you haven’t aged in those three hours. Sometimes there are selfies of footwear, kurta sleeves, saree borders or earrings.
If the event is abroad, there’s a picture taken while entering the airport, followed by one while sitting in the aircraft, one with the flight attendant and one getting off. And so on, till the musician reaches the hotel. The social media posts talk about their programme schedule, with an invitation to local residents.
In group instances, there are these birthday parties of senior musicians. Every single musician guest wants a selfie with the maestro, and things reach a stage the host actually regrets having the party. Of course, the guests have a field day announcing how happy they were to be with their mentor and guru, who they have strangely never met before.
Then, there is this less-known artiste whose primary goal at every industry party is to take pictures with all the celebrities and even convert one into a WhatsApp DP. He will make a collage of such shots and say great things about whom he’s posing with, with the hope of getting a good break.
Finally, there are instances where the hall is only half-booked. So the organiser clicks his or her own selfie against the backdrop of a full portion. “Only few seats left. Rush before it gets packed,” is the message. And some people take it at face value and dash to the venue.
Get the drift? This self-photographing tool is becoming more than a simple selfie. Consciously or unconsciously, a planned self-promotion exercise is going on. Who needs public relations agencies when the artistes can continuously hammer themselves to the ideal target audience?
And this may just be the beginning. Imagine some likely future scenarios. For instance, you may suddenly see musicians playing instruments with one hand. The audience loves the virtuosity, without realising the other hand is clicking a picture. Or the artiste places a regularly timed smartphone at a hidden corner, so clicks take place every two minutes. Some 50 shots are available.
Or in a western music concert, the artiste keeps a phone inside his book. Nobody can see that anyway, so while turning pages, he can go in for a quick click. As long as he doesn’t drop the book or the phone.
Finally, there can be customised, theme-based selfies. If the programme has the song ‘Summertime’, make sure you switch off the AC so you sweat enough to portray Mumbai’s humidity. If you are singing ‘ Honton Se Choolon Tum ’, do practise the pout look. If raga Megh Malhar is on the agenda, go for a dishevelled, wet hair look. The possibilities are immense.
As for me, the next time I meet a great musician, I won’t think beyond taking his or her autograph. I belong to that generation. Maybe the legend will take our selfie to record the fact that someone has requested an autograph after years.
The author is a freelance music writer
