TUCKED away in a small corner of Bukit Gasing, Merdekarya has been a hub for musicians and artists since 2013, hosting numerous gigs and arts events, and helping to elevate both the independent art and music scenes.
As the country struggles to recuperate from Covid-19 and the aftermath of being shut down for three months, Merdekarya is also being forced to overcome these tough times.
Prior to the initial movement control order (MCO) in March, Merdekarya operated primarily as a gig venue, with the top floor hosting the music, while the ground floor served food.
Speaking to theSun, Merdekarya founder Brian Gomez explained that as the country moves into the restricted movement control order (RMCO), Merdekarya will be focusing solely on its food and beverage offerings until things truly settle down.
“At the moment, that’s the best we can do. With social distancing, there’s only a limited number of diners we can fit,” he said.
“We had a tuak fundraiser where most of the regular customers bought some to keep us afloat. That helped us a great deal. What we’re using that for is to convert many of the unused spaces into dining areas.”
To adapt and survive
From previously only opening its doors at night, Merdekarya will now be hosting patrons for lunch and dinner. Should social distancing measures still be in place after the current RMCO period ends in August, forcing the live music side of Merdekarya to remain shuttered, the plan to focus on food and beverages will continue.
“(Live music) will not be financially viable as we will be operating at 30% capacity. We’ve done the numbers and it’s not feasible at all. At the moment, we have no idea when [we can reopen]. Could be six months or even a year,” Gomez said.
There is an entirely different setup today compared to how it was several months ago.
“Our downstairs area has been converted into a totally new bar. It’s called Bar B and we serve pork dishes. It has received quite a decent response,” Gomez said.
“The upstairs [section] that we are working on now is the balcony area, and can be converted into a small bar.”
He further explained that otherwise the menu is “essentially the same”.
“Three to four years ago we were going to move to a different place. The plan for that place was to open a mini-food court, and one of the stalls was supposed to be non-halal,” he elaborated.
“Due to the MCO and looking at the demographics of the people living around the area, we decided to revive the idea.
“If we are going to open day and night, we need to cater to the neighbourhood as well.”
Coming out the other side
theSun spoke to several local musicians (in prior interviews) who were regular performers at Merdekarya, and most of them made it clear that they were anxious to return.
Gomez is confident that once Merdekarya’s live music events return, the reception will probably be better than it was before the MCO, because people haven’t had live music in such a long time.
“The trick now is getting to that point. What measures we take in order to survive, and to get to the point where live music is back. It is largely the uncertainty that is hurting us a lot. There is no way to plan and that’s why we need to assume the worst case scenario – that for 18 months there will be no live music,” he explained.
“We definitely can’t wait to get the stage up and going again. But at the same time, we need to be practical.”
