Strictly Blues festival
Mumbai gets its first blues festival. Stage 1 presents The Strictly Blues festival, an annual festival of pure, unadulterated blues featuring Dana Gillespie & The London Blues Band and the Dino Baptista Trio from the UK, Julien Brunetaud and The JB Boogie Band from France and America Zach Prather.
Joss, Kalaghoda Rampart Row, 7pm, February 19, 2005.
-Time Out Mumbai
While there is an increased number of concerts and live music events happening across the city, this one in recent past tops my list.
An early affair, the music started by 7:45pm and went on till close to midnight. There was no seating (read people swinging and dancing), gorgeous starters doing the rounds, and a full bar. Mumbai’s hunger for nights like this was evident in the packed hall. People were stomping to the music till those a floor below feared the ceiling would come down. We want more events like this.
Is anyone listing?
Planning an evening out on the town with friends invariably leads to countless arguments about where to go. My friends are a diverse lot, so forming a consensus is always hard.
One group loves going to upscale, mainstream venues like Insomnia. They like meeting the same people every weekend, and get down to ‘Kajra Re’ even if its played seven times a night. The point is simple: “They are tired after work and are looking to unwind, so want to go to a place where they know the people and the music is familiar.” Fair enough.
The other group has different, greater expectations from an evening out. No bar or club in Mumbai satisfies them fully, because the music they love consists of non-commercial music – something unavailable in Mumbai’s nightlife venues. This group loves to explore, want to feel new things, meet new people, and feel constricted by following the same routine every weekend.
Who is right? Or is anyone right? I love “Kajra Re”, but I love new sounds too. I like meeting my old mates but also love meeting new people while partying.
Walter Benjamin (a sociological and cultural critic), in The Arcades Project argues that the masses cannot be moved to a higher art. They can only understand or appreciate the one closest to them. The trouble lies in finding Art that strikes a balance: high, but not too high.
For simple commercial reasons, nightclubs in Mumbai cater to what he calls-the working class (Group A) who by virtue of their numbers crowd out the second, the bourgeoisie (Group B) who are only a niche. Nightclubs employ DJs who cater to the masses, by creating standard music, lifting ideas and sounds from an existing library and repackaging in familiar garb. DJs seem wary of experimenting and creating new, bold sounds.
As exciting as the second path is, Benjamin’s argument is simple: The artist needs to make his/her audience travel the path of “high art”. The artist needs to walk with them at every step.
The current reality in Mumbai has led to stagnation of society, and the second is a dream, which does not look likely to come true.
Why is it, that having lived in Mumbai all my life I don’t have a favourite bar? Not into crowded dance floors, and junk music, I am constantly on the look out for a place that gets the formula right.
Finally there was hope and his name was Henry Tham; a fine dining restaurant, recently converted into a part bar/lounge in Colaba. Friday night’s they showcase a live act ‘Bombay House’.
I went there a couple of Friday’s ago. A live saxophone, drum and synthesiser complimented great tracks (I know what it was not… Trance, RnB, Hip Hop, Bollywood, Pop, Retro) from the DJ booth; it was magical!
I spread the word, waiting in tepid anticipation to get lucky the next Friday. It was lost. I walked into a crowded room with no place to stand. The music was average at best and the live acts gone. My eyes watered, I am not sure if it was the second hand smoke or the thought of what was. Henry Tham has become a scene. RIP.
