Bombay's got the Blues

Considered an oldschool genre by those not fully aware of its history musicians turn towards blues music to arm themselves with an understanding of melodic structures And a celebration of this musical style tonight put together by Mumbaibased guitarist Adil Manuel is worth your time if you want to experience a modern adaptation of the genre Theres much to learn from the evolution of early blues where the verses had a single melodic line repeating four times to the early 20th century version which forms the foundation of todays standard structures a line sung over the four first bars then repeated over the next four bars to end with a longer concluding lineRahul WadhwaniManuel who had a blues band in Delhi called Tightrope before moving to Mumbai in 2015 tells us that he only dived back into the genre in 2017 Tonight with Rahul Wadhwani on keys Saurabh Suman on bass Linford Dsouza on drums and Samantha Noella Shazneen Arethna Keshia Braganza and Dwayne Leroy Gamree on vocals the ensemble will also feature guest artistes Jarred Rodricks on the saxophone as they perform their own renditions of blues standards The blues has a tradition of reinventing old songs mdash look at Every Day I Have the Blues and Stormy Monday Well also have a mix of bluesrock and ballads thrown in Plus being a guitardriven ensemble well have a lot of solos says the guitarist who grew up listening to rock and roll and only discovered the blues when he heard Stevie Ray Vaughan in the 90s Thats when the riffs by Led Zeppelin started making sense he says adding that the bends and licks typical to this style are now also used in pop musicLinford Dsouza left andSaurabh Suman rightBut the genre is also about its origins mdash it stems from racial discrimination meted out to AfricanAmericans A lot of anger could be heard in the earlyera blues especially because of where it came from informs Wadhwani And its the same pain and suffering that became the basis for the music The blues originated as songs of lamentation and deliverance by the slaves taken from Africa and brought to America These songs helped them make it through the difficult time And though it was looked upon as forbidden in western classical the blues note sung or played at a slightly different pitch than standard ones was thus born adds Noella Soshyon people started playing them in brothels and gentlemans clubs before they were slowly played on the radio and finally in clubsSamantha NoellaCloser home Shillongbased Soulmate are pioneers in making the genre popular in India followed by Ehsaan Noorani And in Mumbai a blues night was organised only once in two or three months 25 years ago Noella shares adding The blues has been around for ages But we havent had too many acts playing here on a regular basis With this gig Adil is creating awareness What has also helped is that we now have musicians mixing it up with rock and jazz Wadhwani who was introduced to the genre in 2012 says that what sets it apart is the fact that there is little theoretic instrumentation and the music is more about the soul in signature progressions The blues is a style that people need to learn before diving into jazz as it forms the root of the improvisationled genre It has a strong influence on current music because of its soulful character he tells us There are also snatches of it in Bollywood especially from the days of RD Burman Noella says revealing the littleknown fact that Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo from Howrah Bridge is actually based on a blues scaleON Tonight 9 pm onwardsAT FLEA Bazaar Cafe first floor Trade View Building Oasis Complex PB Marg Lower ParelCALL 24970740COST Rs 1000 full coverCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates