At this Vinyl bar, mankind’s greatest desire
of serenity gets satiated. Music in the manner music should be listened to-
pure, clear, with not a speck of adulteration, in a bar where just one brand of
alcohol, with a local touch is poured, all curated by a sound engineer and architect, Buland Shukla
who moved to Goa from Ahmedabad because his PHD guru was Goan.
Buland could very well pass off as a jazz
player himself doubling up as a DJ, bartender or artist. Heis a bit of all
that, wearing most of these hats, besides the one he really wears when he’s
bartending, and much more really
An arena comprising of a courtyard and insides
of an old Portuguese style housing
space, the Juke Box complex in Mala- Fontainhas, in Panjim, houses his Vinyl record store, an upcoming art and café space and the first ever Vinyll bar – For
the Record, the first of its kind in India. Yes that’s right.
It is inspired by the Vinyl or Listening bars
in Japan, hidden in the foliage of narrow streets and cafes packed together,
next to Karoke bars and Yakitori stalls.
Similarly, For the Record is a place
you don’t wander into. It opens up to those who look for it, care to find out
about it. It’s like an answered prayer for those who love to hear music in the
manner it is served, in the comfort of a pace that is truly like a home dug
out, with drinks you would stock at home. So the whiskey would be a brand
distilled in Goa, the agave spirit and
tequila made by a local boy whose brand has gone international. And the local
feni would obviously be the prince of the bar.
So if in Japan you would have acid jazz and
mojitos, bebop and sake teaming up, here at For the Record Panjim you would
easily have a feni cocktail and John Coltrane evening
Buland Shukla has played with the architecture
of sound and its craft and creates turntables,
and by extension, a complete ensemble to play Long Playing records, all
handmade in the rooms of this house, his workshop. Wood is a big player in this
game- jack fruit wood, crocodile bark tree wood along with cork, all of which
go into making composite frames. Everything from wiring to speakers to the
copper arm boards are created and it is one of these systems that plays all his
vinyl records. The records on the “playlist” for the day are hung on the wall
behind the bar and those are the LP’s that are played for that evening- more or
less.
“The joy of communal listening is difficult to
explain. The warmth of vinyl somehow blends people together. The feni cocktails
help as well”, posts Buland on his Facebook page.
Let’s quickly move to the cocktails, because
very few have made the already redoubtable national drink of Goa, taste even
better. It’s a flirtation that is divine. Some are roasted cashew wood infused,
some cherry wood smoke infused, there are those made with bimbli ( the
tangy fruit) juiced with feni, orange liqueur and fresh lime, and the flower
power which is combo of mahua and feni (should have been called fruit and
flower power actually) and of course the feni margarita. But for diehards,
it’s the original favorite- feni as it
is, with the drink called Goencho Dukar “a refreshing house favorite
which make you drink like a pig” (that’s
what Buland’s menu says)
The folks who are here come to truly enjoy the music, at times gently asking Buland to play their favorites. And if it’s on the “menu” he plays it. While the bar is not too large, draped with pictures of the greats and covers of records, there’s still space to shake a leg or simply sway to the music. That happens instinctively. Your feet,