A moment to record

The Revolver Club opens a new location in Goa this Saturday coinciding with the nationwide Record Store Day celebrations

CHRISTINE MACHADO
NT BUZZ

Ever since its founding nearly a decade ago, The Revolver Club has played an important role in the resurgence of vinyl culture in India.

That effort is guided by the belief that arts and hobbies are not solitary pursuits. They thrive through people, spaces and the culture communities build around them.

As part of a nationwide Record Store Day celebration across six locations, the club will unveil its new space in Sao Tome, Panaji, on April 18.

“Goa has a massive live music culture. Goan musicians have also contributed heavily to the music scene in India. Thus, it felt like a great place to open a new franchise. We have also had tons of customers from Goa coming to our store in Mumbai and our founder, Jude de Souza, is also from Goa,” says community manager at The Revolver Club, Mouli Pal. She adds that the project has been in the works for a long time and was made possible by Lavanya Jayashankar and Dhruv Tuteja, who helped bring it to Goa.

At the Revolver Club in Panaji, visitors will be able to experience vinyl listening sessions, buy records, build high-fidelity audio-visual systems, explore vintage watches and film cameras and browse graphic novels. The space will also host film screenings, watch meets, photo walks and coffee workshops.

“Essentially, we want Revolver Club to be a hub for all kinds of alternative cultures and we’re confident Goa will respond well to it,” says Pal.

Interest in analog culture, she notes, has been growing in recent years. “There is something special about the ownership aspect of vinyl records and the intentionality of listening to a record,” she says. She adds that vintage watches and film photography offer a similar appeal, where physical, tactile experiences replace instant digital access.

She also points to how this extends to younger audiences. “It makes sense for older people because they grew up with it and there’s a nostalgia factor. But for people my age to be interested in something they didn’t grow up with it is really special to see,” she says. “There’s a real desire to own physical media again.”

Speaking about the Goa programme on April 18, she says there will be a large record pop-up at the venue. Pal says, “We’re sending about 300 records for sale, including Goan jazz musician Braz Gonsalves’ album ‘Echoes from the Past’. Our founder will also be speaking at the event.”

This year’s nationwide Record Store Day celebration is dedicated to Gauhar Jaan, a pioneering artist who became the first Indian musician to make a record at the turn of the 20th century.

Once among the most celebrated performers in the country, Jaan’s legacy faded over time, later being revisited in ‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan!: The Life and Times of a Musician’ by
Vikram Sampath.

“We have submitted a proposal to the postal department for a commemorative stamp in her honour. With her 100th death anniversary falling in 2030, we hope it is released by then,” says Pal.