Open Mic marks 100th session
Since the day he started hosting open mics in Sri Lanka, Avi Mendis felt that the positive atmosphere it brought about was infectious. Above all, he was overwhelmed to see the participants enjoying the music and each other’s company. This was a place where people could connect with each other through a common passion like music.
Centenary celebration: Avi Mendis with friends
Recently Avi hosted his 100th open mic celebration at the Colpetty House.
Avi first got the idea to host an open mic, when he was studying in College in Singapore. After he joined the student committee at his college, he started organizing open mics in Singapore. He was happy to see how these events provided a platform for the youth to network, explore the arts, build confidence and express themselves.
When he moved to Sri Lanka in 2016, he began hosting the open mics at The Orion City British Council and Colpetty House. “Two places that really trusted in me and gave me the chance,” he recalls.
“I was very lucky that ‘Open Mics with Avi” was recognized by musicians and music enthusiasts, and I had the opportunity to turn this into a traveling open mic and organize a chain of events across Colombo, Singapore, Maldives and Bangalore. In Sri Lanka, I started to organize these sessions monthly, working with newly opened venues, so that they could gain some recognition as well,”he tells us.
He explains that every step of the process of hosting was a crucial one in making sure the events continue to be a success, from picking a suitable date and venue, to creating awareness for each events and curating and promoting the lineup of performers. At the time there were a lot of people who did not know what an open mic was, so Avi would always start the event by explaining the concept, ensuring that everyone was on the same page.
Today these open mic sessions have benefitted musicians in multiple ways, by being a platform that enables partnerships being built across the community. Avi has observed emerging musicians who turned up at open mics as total strangers ending up being best friends, musical collaborators, business partners and even commercial bands with their fellow participants.
“I am always proud when I hear their music playing on the radio and also when I get to see some of them performing at hotels, restaurants and pubs across Sri Lanka!” he observes.
ECHO - Dylan Rayen, Dilhan Weerasekera and Suchi Fernando. Pix by Amila Gamage
Another vital factor that musicians need and open mics facilitate is building confidence in musicians who are just starting out. This is something Avi personally experienced, after being encouraged to pick up a guitar and play even though he started off as just the compere.
The success of open mics speaks for itself, and Avi aims to celebrate this milestone with everyone who helped him achieve it. “This venture is nothing if not for the people in this community who have filled up 100 events with music, smiles and positive vibes. There have been good times and bad, and there are some people who have been with me throughout, who I am so thankful for. This celebration is about them.”
From carrying his sound setup in a suitcase and set it up at various cafes around town, to the much anticipated and well-attended events they are now – Avi tells us they still hold onto the old values, while still breaking away from traditional open mics and branching out into new concepts.
This includes LOCAL where open mics where original indie music was promoted, Open Medium where musicians performed while artists collaboratively painted live, and their latest venture Jam Theory, where they get together as a collective and perform a mini concert that is completely improvised.
Avi hopes the community will continue to grow, both locally and in the Maldives, Singapore and India as well. His goals for the future include potential events in Australia and growing his team of volunteers musicians and organisers.
“There are so many musicians out there who can use a platform out there, and so many people who can really use spaces filled with positivity like this!” he tells us.
In that spirit, Avi also hopes to promote some of his own music as well, with much encouragement from the same community that he provides this platform for.
Anish Wijesinghe
Eshantha Perera
Minesh Dissanayake
Steadily growing: Open mic community