The Songs of our People: Read an exclusive excerpt from Anurag Banerjee’s photobook

The book documents the stories that unite the musicians of Meghalaya, and in fact the people of the world. An excerpt from the chapter A Legacy In Safe Hands.

After running many successful businesses in a career spanning over five decades, Robin Laloo decided to channel his energy into the thing he loved the most—music. An ardent lover of reggae and friends with the who’s-who of the Shillong music fraternity, he harboured a life-long dream to establish a live music venue. In 2015, he decided to bring this idea to life by revamping an old dive bar already running under the family business. After a lot of research, experimentation, learning and unlearning, and two years of hard work and labour, the place he envisioned was finally ready. What used to be just another bar at the heart of Police Bazaar, the commercial hub of the city, transformed into the coolest venue in town. Everything about the place had changed, save for its name—The Evening Club.

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On Nov 11, 2017, with the place still in need of the finishing touches, Robin decided to have an informal opening and invited all his friends to the club. It was a night filled with joy and celebration and felt like the beginning of a wonderful journey. A few days later, on the morning of the 20th, he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. The town, abuzz at the prospect of a one-of-a-kind music venue opening, was left stunned at the sudden demise of its founder. None more than his youngest son, R, who now had to shoulder the responsibility of bringing his father’s vision to fruition.

Now 35, Jeff’s love for music was planted in him with the tuneful lullabies his mother sang to him as a child. With a penchant for playing the bass guitar, Jeff was a young teen when he formed his first band. After completing his tenth board exams, Jeff first moved to Assam and then Delhi for further education. Admittedly, he never had much of an interest in academics, his focus always leaning towards music, often at the cost of his marks. In Delhi, he was part of multiple bands with whom he got a chance to play at the leading venues in the city and tour the country. A highlight for him was when a band he played bass for, a prog-rock outfit called October, was given the opportunity to open for Grammy-nominated Swedish metal band, Meshuggah in 2010. After briefly toying with the idea of studying music abroad on completing college in 2012, Jeff decided to come back home to lend a hand with the family business. While his father was seasoned in the hospitality and business side of things, Jeff brought his vast experience as a musician to the table. Having performed countless shows at various locations in the country, he had first hand knowledge about what a musician looks for in an ideal venue. With the passing of his father, as daunting a task as it was, Jeff found within him a drive to ensure that the music venue would be the place they both dreamed of. “I had nothing to prove to anyone but him,” he shared. Three months after the passing of Robin Laloo, The Evening Club officially opened to a packed house of almost 200 people.

Housed in the basement of a four-storey hotel, The Evening Club or EC in common parlance, is a cosy bar with a seating capacity of 65 people. With an amphitheatre-like arrangement, every table has a clear view of the stage, on the wall behind which hangs a circular neon-lit logo reminiscent of vintage jazz bars. Old photos of bands and musicians of Shillong line the walls of the club, a homage to the rich musical heritage of the city. In the six years that it has been active, not only has EC hosted some of the most happening acts of the country and beyond, but it has also become a platform to showcase the immense talent that resides in the North-East. The significance that the young venue already holds in the music scene of Shillong is attested by the reverence it receives from scores of young musicians from the city and the region at large. In fact, EC has also become a cultural hub in Shillong, hosting not just music performances but also film screenings, book launches, poetry evenings and much more. At the centre of it all is Jeff and his deep understanding of the arts that is born out of a heart and mind that is always open to learning.

“I would like to believe that I am a good person,” Jeff shared, “that I care for people.” From his own experience as a musician, he understood that the success of a venue such as EC is determined by the treatment it metes out to those gracing its stage. Not only are the acts who play at EC paid fairly but are always given the respect they deserve. Rarely will you ever attend a gig at the club where the crowd’s attention is not entirely with the musicians. On New Year’s eve 2022, Zimbabwean artist Blessing Chimanga performed at EC. It was not just his second time in Shillong but also the second time on the trip, having played at the club just the previous night. Midway through his set, Blessing called upon Jeff and his elder sister, Sasha, to join him on stage, going on to share the love and affection he had for the family.

Along with running the show at The Evening Club, Jeff also continues his musical pursuits, playing the bass for three different bands, two roles he is still learning to straddle. While he has received his business acumen from his father, he attributes his musical prowess entirely to his mother. “My father did not have a single musical bone in his body,” he shared fondly. “Just a giant love for music.” In Jeff, and in all that he has already achieved with The Evening Club, this giant love for music lives on.

(Excerpted with permission from The Songs of our People, self-published by Anurag Banerjee; 2024 )