Roqué's Concerts for One
Seeking Connection Through Intimate Live Music
A few years ago, I sat at a piano with a friend and played some of my songs for him. I told stories about how each song came to existence, and we shared our thoughts with each other about our lives, hardships, and hopes. I remember thinking later that night how nice that was.
These days, I perform at music venues in Nashville, Pride events, and various special occasions with my band Ancestral Tongue. I truly love what we do together and want to do more. However, a part of me craves the kind of connection you cannot have with a crowd of strangers at a noisy bar, festival, or party. Beyond the folks who are actually paying attention, there are often multiple conversations going on at once or some loud sound coming from behind the bar. I never fully know if the audience understands what I am singing about.
For a long time, I have been wondering if there could be a different way to perform—a way that fosters a deeper connection between the artist and the listener.
For the last couple of weeks, I have been promoting what I call “Roqué’s Concerts for One” (one person or one household) in my neighborhood. This is based on that night I spent years ago playing my songs for one person. In this case, I am offering to come to a person’s home and play a private concert for a single person or one entire household of family members or roommates.
I will show up with my keyboard and amplification if needed. I will provide a list of over 30 original songs and a handful of covers that you can choose randomly for me to play. Generally, most people will only have the song titles to work with, but this is part of the beauty of it all. A sensibility or an instinct will be all you’ll need to choose a piece of music. Each choice comes with an element of surprise and the allure of the unknown. Along the way, we could tell each other stories, and I can talk about my songs. Hopefully, we can have a meaningful exchange of some kind, and I could perform for however long feels right.
This also does not have to be so stuffy and formal. I could bring a dish of food, and we could share a meal while I play. We could have an intermission and go for a walk in your neighborhood. We can tell each other jokes. All that is possible is possible.
Here’s the current list of original songs to choose from:
The Boy In the Room
Villain
Shadows Dance
Up To You
Pale Sunshine
Tears In Savannah
Coral Sky
Fear
Mr. Stranger
Confession
Swirl
While You Sleep
Sailing
This Is Love
Into the Clouds
The Orchid Thief
Albion
Gertrude
The Hollowing
Vampire
The Gardener
WAWA
Hello Mexico
Dragon
Arabesque
Still
Burn
Strong Again
Lament
Play the Pain Away
Never a Rose
Waverly
These private concerts would be a free offering that could provide some degree of comfort, entertainment, and companionship for anyone who needs it.
So far, two of these concerts have been booked in my neighborhood this summer, and I am leaving myself open to doing more for the foreseeable future.
Selfishly, there are a couple of bonuses that come out of these concerts for me. I get to continue to work on my craft (being able to competently play over 30 different songs from memory at random is no easy feat, though I surely will not play them all at one performance, unless requested). I may also get to spend time with people I only see at a party or in passing. Maybe friendships will spark or deepen. Someone might tell me an amazing story along the way.
In the bigger picture, the country I live in is now an authoritarian state. There are documented instances of citizens who are brown who have been racially profiled, assaulted, and detained by ICE. I would be foolish to think that this could not happen to me. (I could never pass as a straight white person if I tried.) So then, perhaps these private concerts can be a way to reshape my life as a performer that feels safer on a much smaller scale. (Touring to perform in faraway places in America where I do not know many people may not be the best idea at the moment.)
Ultimately, life is too short to do what you love alone. This is why I play in a band with wonderful and sweet musicians and why I also want to share my music in a more intimate and meaningful way.
At these private concerts, I will not be on a big stage, and there will not be the roaring cheers and applause of an audience. All I will have is the attention of one person or a handful of people in the space of one room and the giving, taking, pushing, and pulling that comes with a willingness to be still and listen to each other.
I cannot help but dream about how nice that will be.
It will be oh so nice.
P.S. These private concerts are not limited to my neighborhood in the woods. If anyone out in Nashville or somewhere in Middle Tennessee is willing to have me, I will show up at your front door with my keyboard and a heart full of songs. (Maybe someday these private concerts can happen further away.) To set up a concert for one, feel free to email me at roque@roquemarcelo.com.
Upcoming Shows
Roqué’s Concert for One
Liberty, TN
Wednesday, July 16
Corner Wedgewood (Ancestral Tongue)
Nashville, TN
Wednesday, July 23
Roqué’s Concert for One
Dowelltown, TN
Friday, August 8
Last Wednesday night, MaxZine and I attended a show by an artist named Ruby Ibarra. She is a Filipina rapper and spoken-word artist from the Bay Area who is this year’s winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Competition. She is currently headlining a Tiny Desk Concert tour across the country. In Nashville, she played at a venue called The Basement East.
She was magnificent. I loved the songs she performed with her full band (percussion/drums, bass, electric guitar, keys, backing vocalists, and a small string section). She explores her Filipino roots and identity as an immigrant in a lot of her work and often includes words from different dialects in her songs.
I am so proud of her and her success. I hope to see her perform again someday.
