Blues returns to India yet again

The festive season for Blues has officially opened — once again. Not that it had gone anywhere, with singer Dana Gillespie returning to Indian shores later this month.

Dana is joined on this year’s tour by guitarist Jake Zaitz, who has shared the stage and recorded with the likes of Joe Louis Walker, Big Joe Louis, and Big Joe Turner, whereas pianist Matt Gest has played with the likes of Allen Toussaint (who passed away on November 10 this year), guitarist Joe Bonamassa, jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and American Shemekia Copeland, who I saw perform at the inaugural MBF in 2011. Dana performs with her band in Mumbai on November 25, followed by live performances in Goa (26th), New Delhi (28th), and Bengaluru (29th).

Dana herself organises an annual Blues festival at Basil’s Bar on Mustique, a small private island that is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, located in the West Indies. The festival is into its 18th edition and is held at the end of January every year. In 2005, Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger appeared as a guest and sang a rendition of ‘Dust My Broom’ and, naturally, his very own band’s “Honky Tonk Women”.

I am — and will always be — a Blues buff, but so too are two promoters who have marvelled at the talent that they have brought into the country through the years. Brian Tellis of Fountainhead Entertainment, and Oranjuice Entertainment, is certainly one of them, passionate about his own singing ever since I have known him. I can recall as far back as 1985 at least when he performed harmonies in a band called Voices at the Aid Bhopal Concert held in Mumbai.

Through the years, there has been every reason to meet him (mostly at concerts, though), including at his very own One Tree Festival during the 2000s that I frequented regularly at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, and was amazed to see the likes of The Alan Parsons Project, Uriah Heep (it was here that I saw the band perform for a second time in Mumbai; the first time being at Rang Bhavan, either in 1983 or 1984, and the one-night only re-formation of Indus Creed. Of course, I also saw blues guitar legend Buddy Guy for the first time here, now a staple at the annual Mahindra Blues Festival (MBF) — yes, it is yet another Brian initiative — that occurs every February in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the other promoter firmly establishing his reputation in this niche genre is Anil Mehta, who undertakes his musical initiatives with the very obvious band named Simply The Blues. While Anil entered the realms of Blues in 2012 by promoting the Bangalore-based Chronic Blues Circus, it did not take long for him to also move into the international space too, bringing in Dana Gillespie to Mumbai’s St Andrew’s Auditorium in 2013, followed by British blues guitarist Mick Clarke last year (I was fortunate to attend both concerts), and a return of Dana this time too.

While the tradition of Blues has been kept alive by the likes of John Mayall, his alumnus Eric Clapton, and Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival favourite John Mayer, to name a select few musicians, one of my earlier discoveries of Blues arrived via Chuck Berry, known more for his rockabilly tracks. Through him, I discovered his influences, which included John Lee Hooker, Lightin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters and, eventually, Robert Johnson. There was B.B. King too, who died aged 89 in Las Vegas on May 14 this year, an artiste who, Anil says, he had approached to visit India, but was unable to do so due to his ill health. If the event had become a reality, that would have been truly historic.

While there is no denying that the Blues was moulded in North America during the 1800s, I am convinced that its roots still lie within Africa. To support my case, consider merely the two following facts: one, an African instrument by the name of akonting is the precursor of the banjo; and, two, instead of the modern-day plectrum to press the strings of the guitar, a knife was originally used, a technique that is still common in Western and Central Africa.

Nevertheless, returning to mother India, it is indeed a pleasant feeling to note that there are sufficient passionate, enterprising entrepreneurs who are doing their level best to ensure that the niche Blues move beyond the realms of being a mere colour into a colourful musical genre that is heading mainstream!

The writer has been part of the media and entertainment business for over 23 years. He still continues to pursue his hobby, and earns an income out of it.