In Conversation: Ladies Compartment at The Gig Week

Taking inspiration from the varying ladies, the members are themselves a part of  a Mumbai train’s ladies compartment. This group of young ladies by the inspired name Ladies Compartment want to break away from the status quo of the male dominated music industry. Armed with a set of originals for The Gig Week 7.0 in Delhi at The Bar Cat, which apparently is also their first ever gig with the full line up. Started by three, Ladies Compartment now is more of a collective with almost each one of them having their own personal musical ventures. With the collaborative efforts of Aditi Ramesh, Ramya Pothuri, Aarifah Rebello, Kristen Marea and Nandita V., Ladies Compartment is an amalgamation of shared interests in American Folk, Jazz, Blues, Indie and Carnatic Indian classical traditions. With splashes of colourful hints of popular culture, thay also like to tribute to the  daily trials of a working woman in the city of Mumbai. ‘ Over a little chit chat on the Bar Cat roof a few minutes before they put on a splendid set, they looked excited to share their idea of bringing together musicians to address a cause. About how the band got together, Aditi, says,

“It was my idea but I never thought it would be a reality. Kirsten the violinist saw me play one day and she came and spoke to me and said we must collaborate.”

She then heard Nandita, the band’s bassist at a church and roped her in. Speaking about the rest, Aditi adds,

“Ramya and Aarifah joined later; Ramya was introduced to me by Kirsten and I asked her to join. Aarifah replied to a post I had put out calling for female musicians to come jam. Basically this came together on its own without planning but we're so happy with how it is going and 2018 will be a big year for us hopefully.”

The core band as of now consists of four of them – Aditi, Aarifah, Ramya and Nandita, with Kirsten as a floating member since she lives in the States. They are also planning to get a few gigs in the States with Kristen's connections. Eventually Ladies Compartment plans on featuring a number of additional female artists (singers, instrumentalists, visual artists, spoken word poets, sound engineers ) in their  acts. Give them a shoutout on their Facebook page here.