Feelin’ the Blues

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After the stellar success of its first edition, the Mahindra Blues Festival is back, and it’s bigger and better in its latest avatar. Scheduled to take place over February 11 and 12, the line-up for the fest this year includes the legendary Buddy Guy, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal Trio, John Lee Hooker Jr and Ana Popovic — what festival director Owen Roncon calls a dream come true.

“The Blues, as a genre of music, is relatively unknown in our landscape. It is probably the most misunderstood genre of music, often associated with the down and out, when in fact it is a celebration of life no matter what the situation. To get the opportunity to actually showcase this genre of music with the best Blues musicians the world has to offer was truly a gift to us,” says Owen, adding that this second edition of the MBF has been guided by audience feedback from last year. Accordingly, this year will see an enhanced F&B zone, premium lounges, a viewing gallery and “Blues walkthrough”, in addition to the three big stages (as opposed to last year’s two) for the performances.
The outpouring of positive feedback must have been reassuring for both for Orangejuice Entertainment (the promoters and producers of MBF) and the Mahindra Group (the key sponsors), especially since there must have considerable doubt about whether a genre as niche as the Blues would work on such a big scale in Mumbai. “There was no doubt in our mind about the response MBF would get,” Owen counters.
He explains, “Yes, the Blues is a niche genre, but isn’t that how all good things start? After all, it is said that in music, the Blues is the root, all else — Rock, Jazz, R&B — are the fruits. We knew this form of music, with its soul stirring lyrics and mind-bending guitar licks, all crafted by some truly gifted musicians, would be well-received in India. From a business point of view, we did discuss whether or not we should dabble in other genres as well, but the wisdom of the Mahindra Group prevailed, with its simple logic that if you stick with what your heart tells you, you can’t go wrong.”
Upping the profile of the fest this year has been a fulfilling experience, agrees Owen: “This year, we got enquiries from artistes all over the globe wanting to be part of the festival. This makes us almost believe that we have started a rather exciting Blues scene here in India. We are lucky that we found a great venue in the Mehboob Studios, which lends a certain personality to the festival. Even when we choose artistes, our benchmark isn’t solely talent, but also his/her ability to make the festival a happy place to be at.”
Explaining the mammoth task of bringing together artistes from around the world, Owen said, “Getting all these fabulous artistes together on the dates we want remains a challenge. This results in months and months of work before we can finalise the list. But the best part of our job is listening to hours and hours of music, and calling it work!”
Owen outlines some of the things audiences can look forward to at MBF 2012: A Blues brunch on February 12 (Sunday), a workshop, performances by home-grown bands like Soulmate and Backstrat Blues — in short, the “complete New Orleans experience”. “Also, all the artistes are very excited about performing here, because they’ve heard so much about the appreciative Indian audience from the master himself, Buddy Guy,” Owen adds.
Having roped in several international artistes of stature for MBF 2012, one would expect Owen to rattle off their names when asked about his greatest triumph as regards to the festival. But he simply answers, “I think my moment of triumph happened in early December actually, when I received a call from a certain gentleman in Delhi who wanted to know the dates of the festival so he could plan his leave accordingly. This to me was our greatest joy. To know that what you did brought enough joy to someone to make them want to come back. The challenge this time will be living up to these expectations and going beyond, in terms of delivering the experience.” Amen!