Imagine entering an apartment complex and being led to a room lit by fairy lights. The quaint venue is teeming with people, seated courteously on the floor, waiting on the first glimpse of the three performers of the night. This is an unlikely scene to call a concert—let alone one with a star-studded lineup of up-and-coming local artists She’s Only Sixteen, Kate Torralba and Cheats—but there they are, close enough for you to touch, and they’ve promised to play stripped down versions of their songs.

This is exactly what happened during Sofar Sounds’ gig last May 31.

First, a little context. One can’t help but think about our country’s live music scene in terms of its impersonality—a persistent distraction in the face of the music. Heavily inflated ticket rates give those with the funds and connections—albeit not necessarily the interest—an edge. As if that weren’t enough, you may have come for the music, only for the experience to be promptly ruined by too-far seats, crowd claustrophobia and sweat-drenched fans screaming in your ear every other song.

Songs from a Room (Sofar) Sounds gives you none of those; as curators of musical leaps of faith, all they need is your commitment to music. Named after the 1969 Leonard Cohen album, this global organization—active in 37 countries and 85 cities—pulls together secret concerts in small-scale venues. Those interested need to sign up for the group’s mailing list, and then play the waiting game for an email. This email is the go signal that tells them they’ve made it to the list for their next secret gig.

Audience members are sent the exact location—which is usually a living room—only three days prior to the event, and are greeted by a lineup they won’t even know of until arriving at the venue itself.

From YouTube to your room

Sofar is the brainchild of Londoners David Alexander, Rafe Offer and Rocky Start. In 2009, the founders figured that there could be more to the gig experience if they brought it to a more personal, intimate setting.

The organization reached Philippine shores only last year, but has already organized four successful events in various households around the Metro: At Cainta, Makati, Taft and Quezon City, in chronological order.

Sofar Sounds Manila Coordinator Li Perez recounts how Sofar Manila was made a reality: Instantly enamored after coming across their YouTube channel, she contacted their headquarters, and was thereafter contacted by Sofar Director Offer on what to do to get the ball rolling in the Philippines.

“[It] has continued to grow to what it is now because of the support it has been receiving from the show attendees, musicians and industry professionals,” Perez says of its exponential growth since its conception in London five years ago.

Music fan Nathaniel Salvador has attended two of their shows, and even volunteered his White Plains residence for their last gig. He personally enjoys the intimacy that Sofar has to offer—something regular concerts cannot. “You're in a room with no more than a hundred people, sitting on the floor, and you don't know who's performing beforehand. It’s an experience every music lover should try at least once.”

Up close and personal

Those who have attended a Sofar Sounds gig are in unanimous agreement that intimacy is their greatest asset, as well as what sets them apart. From the distant feel of the big-dome concert to the electronic, bass-heavy tugstugan (that is, sometimes, less about the music and more about the alcohol), Sofar is a completely different atmosphere altogether.

“It's as if you were invited to someone's house for a party. It so happened that there were instruments lying around, and a few of the guests knew how to play. Kind of like being in certain parts of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006),” Salvador says with a laugh, referring to a book written by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn.

Andrew Panopio, an information design senior, was both a performer and audience member at the last Sofar Manila gig. “It’s a different setting, really. Gigs are great and people go not just for the music but the experience and the bar life, but Sofar really asks the people to sit down politely and pay attention to the performers.”

Perez mentions that these unique shows cater to the genuinely interested, in the sense that money and a vast musical knowledge are not prerequisites for enjoying their gigs. It’s a symbiotic relationship between the performers and the audience. She aptly puts it, “[Even] those who are unable to go to gigs, and have no knowledge of the scene… have the means to get these acts known.”

Sofar Manila performers are refreshingly varied in this regard, ranging from Taken by Cars, signed to Warner Music Group, to unsigned bands such as Ourselves the Elves. The idea here is that it’s not the label that brings in the audience, it’s their love for original Pilipino music (OPM).

Come together

A hat is usually passed around after the gigs to collect the audience’s donations to the cause. “It has been challenging and rewarding at the same time… We don't get regular funding from this, apart from the donations we're able to collect from each show,” says Perez of both the joys and woes of maintaining a passion project of this caliber.

Salvador mentioned Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, in which its protagonists scout the city for Where’s Fluffy?, a publicity-shy band that holds secret gigs.

The allure of these gigs is simple, even in this fictional context. It comes with the feeling that you’ve discovered something, that you are part of a select few, that anything could happen. It’s the rush of having the music made palpable, as it is literally in the same room as you. At the same time, Sofar Sounds is a breath of fresh air for those who are, in the words of Lorde, “kind of over getting told to throw their hands up in the air.”

There may be consequences to spilling the Sofar Sounds secret to a wider audience, but this organization’s aim is not to keep underground artists where they are. Perez has a lot of hope in OPM: “The local music scene is very rich. There’s a huge need to bridge the music to its audience, and vice-versa.” The music scene on campus alone is already teeming with fresh, new faces on a regular basis, and Sofar Sounds is by far one of the most promising avenues for these new performers and listeners to come together over their shared passion for music.