Fourth edition of Simply The Blues Kicks Off Today

Although India is home to a couple of blues festivals now, the blues scene in the country remains largely fledgling. So it’s heart-warming  every time there is an odd gig where a good ol’ blues band comes down to the country to play for the not-so-many fans. Simply The Blues, a festival that started out as a Mumbai affair and is now a multi-city showcase, kicks off today in Goa, and will travel to Mumbai (September 25th) , Bangalore (September 26th) and Delhi (September 27th). French blues band Lil’ Red & The Roosters will be performing at all four city legs of the festival.

(L to R) Thomas Troussier, Jennifer Milligan and Pascal Fouquet of Lil Red & The Roosters. Photo: Courtesy of Simply The Blues

Comprising vocalist Jennifer Milligan, guitarist Pascal Fouquet and Thomas Troussier on the blues harp, Lil’ Red & The Roosters will present a mainly up-tempo set of blues tunes inspired by the enjoyable boogie rhythms of the Forties and Fifties. Says Milligan, “I am looking forward to sharing our style of blues with audiences across the country, as well as introducing them to the washboard, a unique blues roots instrument. I’m hoping they will dance and we are also hoping to go back with a belly full of great Indian food.”

While the Goa edition will be held tonight at Sol de Goa hotel in Bardez, in Mumbai, the performance will take place at Blue Frog. The Delhi and Bengaluru editions will be held in Q-la and Indigo Live Music Bar, respectively.

With an entertaining act on offer, the festival hosts are hoping for full houses across cities. Organiser Anil Mehta, founder of StarKonnect Events & Promotions, says that although blues in India will never have the mass appeal of EDM, it is a growing scene nonetheless. He says, “We have had parents bringing in 5 year old kids saying that they want to expose them to the blues at this tender age. Now that’s where the future lies.” Ask him what kept him going with organizing Simply The Blues for the past four years despite the odd of having a large audience and he says, “Perseverance. Any property has a gestation period and so has ours”¦Our future plan now is to reach out to a larger audience across India, taking the blues to many more cities, to the North East hopefully, curating interesting blues artists performing different styles of blues rather than the staple diet of blues rock.”