Simply The Blues Returns To Mumbai

Warren Mendonsa. Photo: Sukrit Nagraj

A packed gig calendar makes it as tough for artists to pick from as it does for audiences. “Just one gig a day please,” says guitarist Warren Mendonsa, who has just arrived from Scotland, where he was shooting the concluding episode of the television jam series, The Dewarists.  Mendonsa took a tough call when Alien Chutney, stand-up comic Vir Das’s comedy rock band that the guitarist is a part of was booked to perform at India Music Week’s line-up of performances on the same day as Blackstratblues, his solo project that will take to stage at Simply The Blues, the monthly four-part series of gigs that kicked off in October.

Mendonsa, who was seen backing stand-up comics as part of The Naked Comedy Festival at St. Andrew’s Auditorium, the venue for Simply The Blues, is eager to be back on the same stage. “This is the first time Blackstratblues is doing a show at St.Andrew’s. It’s one of the first places in the city that was built to be a performance venue and the acoustics are great. I haven’t attended a single gig where the sound was bad,” he says. Mendonsa will perform new material from the upcoming Blackstratblues album tonight and also plans to jam with vocalist Siddharth Basrur on a couple of tracks.

Blackstratblues’ set will be followed by a performance by Bengaluru-based quartet Ministry of Blues, who will play a few original compositions such as “Deep In Debt Blues” and some blues classics. “We will also perform ”˜Remembering,’ a song in memory of our drummer and one of the founding members Deepak Kesavan, who passed away last year,” says the band’s vocalist and guitarist, Philipe Haydon.

Organised by event company StarKonnect, Simply The Blues was kicked off to turn the spotlight on local talent. “Indian artists don’t get a fair chance with jazz and blues fest that focus more on the international acts,” says Joyce Arora, one of the organizers of the event. With the new crop of blues taking centre stage, Arora is convinced that blues will reach out to a younger audience and hopes to extend the series well into 2013.

Simply The Blues will take place at November 21st at St Andrew’s Auditorium, Mumbai, 7 pm onwards. Tickets priced at Rs 400, Rs. 800, Rs. 1000, Rs. 1500