THE FADING ERA OF INDIAN BLUES..
Music is the soul and structure of our human existence and we all have varied choice to let in our ears to groove in our hearts. Music has developed through many genres and has been greatly influenced by the age of times, culture, traditions, musical instruments, languages, dance forms, individual identities of the emerging artists and the zeal to celebrate life. One such form of music which has always been stereotyped to melancholy and depression is the “Blues”.
The lyrics of Blues is most of the time narrative to the enslaved selves, the social taboos and evils, lost romance, heart-broken and ditched love, gambling, magic, sacred ambiance, the racial dilemmas and the hard times the artist sees the world through. Having its origin to the Igbo people who are indigenous to Nigeria, this genre of music is based on African-American sub-dominant relationship. Blues can be considered both as a genre and musical form due to its versatile existence with country music, R&B, rock and roll.
Atleast, I relate Blues to a country side garden restaurant where I would be sitting alone with a large pitcher of beer, amazing sea food which I wouldn’t cherish on taste and stare at the world around just thinking about my lost love. The Blues has empowered itself to the modern generation in relation to disintegrations, loneliness, scars and broken relationships. It flicks the fond memories of Eric Clapton singing, “Now they may kill me, baby, And bury me like they do, My body will lie, but my spirit's gonna find…. …Only you”.
I was listening to the Indian Rock Blues band from North-East named “Soulmate”. On historical curiosity, it is the only band with Jazz and Blues recognition throughout our Indian existence. It has represented India worldwide courtesy “The Blues Club of India”. In India, the Blues has kept itself alive with the tinge of jazz as the famous culture in ultra modern societies. As we always have exceptions, there are few artists who have been true to the original aura of the Blues genre and have been considerable towards keeping it alive in Indian roots. The Indian Blues Band “Contraband” is one such initiative that has livened up to the Blues. They started by having music sessions at homes by inviting friends with boose and musical instruments to tune in. In addition, there are many Indian bands like Smokestack, Blues Conscience, Delta Blues which are exponents of this style of music. The iconic Mehboob Studios in Bandra, Mumbai has given a progression to the Blues by making itself available for cultural events which also include Blues performances and concerts. The Himalayan Blues Fest is the most famous hub in India and attracts blues audience from the world. There are many hang outs in our country which have changed the way we perceive music by introducing “Live Music Venues”. These organizers give a lot of exposure to local bands to come and perform live for their customers. Indeed, to my pleasure and love for Blues, there are local artists and musicians who believe in wooing their audience by hit Blues compositions.
Historically, the Blues emerged in full bloom before and after the World War II but suffered declination on mainstream popularity in a short span of time. The famous and strong Blues artists B. B. King and Bobby Blue Bland survived the downfall due to the prominent compositions but they couldn’t cease the elimination of Blues from the African/Black music by the end of 1950s. The White locales from Chicago, Memphis, Tennessee, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and northern Mississippi kept supporting the growth of Blues and several country music artists started giving world famous compositions. As Jimi Hendrix famously sang “Born Under A bad Sign”, the Blues ended up as an form which was mostly mixed with other forms by famous artists and performed on the stage with immense glamour as the female audience stood there with emotional tears. There were many movies based on the history of Blues music and featured the best the form featured.
In the 20th century, various other genres like heavy metal, rock, jazz, rap, hip-hop, country, Alternative jazz, disco, salsa, world music, pop, house, and trance became the corpuscles running in the veins of people due to construction of pubs and bars, modern coffee houses, concerts, domesticated music culture and joints where the youth could hang-out. This was the era which saw the downfall of blues and only the small artists having their own musical bands performed Acoustic Blues sitting with their guitars and few friends as audience. Let us all revive the lost American-African culture of Blues again by regular air plays by attracting new fans and artists. As Stevie Ray Vaughan sang, Blues is truly Riviera Paradise.
In India, Ananth Menon has kept the “Blues Guitar” playing tradition alive and is undoubtedly one of the famous bluesmen with Indian birth and charm. Playing for projects like Galeej Gurus, By2blues, Parachute XV1, he has always kept the blues kicking high and non-extinct in India. He famously quoted when asked about the Blues culture in India, "I think the blues will always have an audience in India, but the reality is the same for any genre-it’s a tough life, but can be a gratifying one."
The lyrics of Blues is most of the time narrative to the enslaved selves, the social taboos and evils, lost romance, heart-broken and ditched love, gambling, magic, sacred ambiance, the racial dilemmas and the hard times the artist sees the world through. Having its origin to the Igbo people who are indigenous to Nigeria, this genre of music is based on African-American sub-dominant relationship. Blues can be considered both as a genre and musical form due to its versatile existence with country music, R&B, rock and roll.
Atleast, I relate Blues to a country side garden restaurant where I would be sitting alone with a large pitcher of beer, amazing sea food which I wouldn’t cherish on taste and stare at the world around just thinking about my lost love. The Blues has empowered itself to the modern generation in relation to disintegrations, loneliness, scars and broken relationships. It flicks the fond memories of Eric Clapton singing, “Now they may kill me, baby, And bury me like they do, My body will lie, but my spirit's gonna find…. …Only you”.
I was listening to the Indian Rock Blues band from North-East named “Soulmate”. On historical curiosity, it is the only band with Jazz and Blues recognition throughout our Indian existence. It has represented India worldwide courtesy “The Blues Club of India”. In India, the Blues has kept itself alive with the tinge of jazz as the famous culture in ultra modern societies. As we always have exceptions, there are few artists who have been true to the original aura of the Blues genre and have been considerable towards keeping it alive in Indian roots. The Indian Blues Band “Contraband” is one such initiative that has livened up to the Blues. They started by having music sessions at homes by inviting friends with boose and musical instruments to tune in. In addition, there are many Indian bands like Smokestack, Blues Conscience, Delta Blues which are exponents of this style of music. The iconic Mehboob Studios in Bandra, Mumbai has given a progression to the Blues by making itself available for cultural events which also include Blues performances and concerts. The Himalayan Blues Fest is the most famous hub in India and attracts blues audience from the world. There are many hang outs in our country which have changed the way we perceive music by introducing “Live Music Venues”. These organizers give a lot of exposure to local bands to come and perform live for their customers. Indeed, to my pleasure and love for Blues, there are local artists and musicians who believe in wooing their audience by hit Blues compositions.
Historically, the Blues emerged in full bloom before and after the World War II but suffered declination on mainstream popularity in a short span of time. The famous and strong Blues artists B. B. King and Bobby Blue Bland survived the downfall due to the prominent compositions but they couldn’t cease the elimination of Blues from the African/Black music by the end of 1950s. The White locales from Chicago, Memphis, Tennessee, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and northern Mississippi kept supporting the growth of Blues and several country music artists started giving world famous compositions. As Jimi Hendrix famously sang “Born Under A bad Sign”, the Blues ended up as an form which was mostly mixed with other forms by famous artists and performed on the stage with immense glamour as the female audience stood there with emotional tears. There were many movies based on the history of Blues music and featured the best the form featured.
In the 20th century, various other genres like heavy metal, rock, jazz, rap, hip-hop, country, Alternative jazz, disco, salsa, world music, pop, house, and trance became the corpuscles running in the veins of people due to construction of pubs and bars, modern coffee houses, concerts, domesticated music culture and joints where the youth could hang-out. This was the era which saw the downfall of blues and only the small artists having their own musical bands performed Acoustic Blues sitting with their guitars and few friends as audience. Let us all revive the lost American-African culture of Blues again by regular air plays by attracting new fans and artists. As Stevie Ray Vaughan sang, Blues is truly Riviera Paradise.
In India, Ananth Menon has kept the “Blues Guitar” playing tradition alive and is undoubtedly one of the famous bluesmen with Indian birth and charm. Playing for projects like Galeej Gurus, By2blues, Parachute XV1, he has always kept the blues kicking high and non-extinct in India. He famously quoted when asked about the Blues culture in India, "I think the blues will always have an audience in India, but the reality is the same for any genre-it’s a tough life, but can be a gratifying one."
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