From belly dancing to smooth jazz, artists are making Delhi streets their stage

Delhi musicians and dancers are choosing the streets as their stage now. Khan Market, Connaught Place and Meherchand Market are just some of the places where you can spot them.

Have you spotted breakdancers at Khan Market or guitarists crooning at Connaught Place on a busy Friday night? If you have, then you’ve witnessed the newest generation of street artists who, much like the culture in cities such as New Orleans and London, have chosen the streets of Delhi as their stage.

A street performer dancing to jazz music and hip hop beats, spotted at Khan Market on Friday . (Aditya Dogra/HT Photo)

Street performers aren’t a new thing in the Capital — we’ve always had puppeteers, snake charmers, folk dancers and tightrope walkers in the city — but these new generation artists are changing the way music and dance are brought to the masses. These artists are well-educated individuals and have formal training in various art forms. Their music and dance are of international genres.

A street performer dancing to jazz music and hip hop beats, spotted at Khan Market on Friday . (Aditya Dogra/HT Photo)

They can be seen B-boying (breakdancing), playing soft jazz, singing popular tracks, and even shimmying to percussion beats. Karan Khamboj, a student of Delhi University, and his band Khoj take to various blocks around Connaught Place, central Delhi, every other weekend and perform hit Bollywood tracks. “We formed our band in college with some seniors and first performed when Raahgiri (the initiative of giving public spaces back to pedestrians) was really popular in CP. We received a very good response back then, so we decided to start this as a regular thing from February this year. Most people pass us by, but many also stop to listen or to take pictures and videos. Performing like this gives our band a chance to bond and perform in front of a live audience without any burden of expectation on us. Those who really like what we’re doing will stop by,” says Khamboj.

Ditty, a Delhi-based band, performs in Khan Market. (Bhavika Aggarwal/Instagram)

Aditi Veena, another musician we had earlier spotted at Khan Market, says that she has performed in Sri Lanka and Nepal the same way, too, and has done quite a few street performances in Delhi. “The music (live performances) in Delhi are mostly limited to clubs or restaurants. At the clubs, often the crowd isn’t as responsive, or demands popular (Hindi) tracks over original English music. The streets, however, aren’t the same. It gives you freedom to perform whatever you want to, and the response is still great. I have performed on the streets quite a few times and intend to keep doing it,” she says. “I even have a Tumblr blog called #streetsforus, named after our initiative, which seeks to question and redefine what public space means to people across the world, and how art can be used as a vehicle to transform and reclaim the streets.”

Delhiites are also taking to social media to share and promote these artists online. Have a look at some of the posts below.

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