Blues Is Here: When Mumbai Played Host To Legends And Their Prodigies

After a long wait the iconic Mahindra Blues Festival saw the city lit up once again in the hues of blues. This time around, it is a bittersweet moment for the festival regulars as the legendary Buddy Guy is all set to bow out with one final performance for his Indian fans. On Friday morning, the legendary artiste walked out for a press meet in India along with his colleague Taj Mahal and two young starry eyed musicians Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Ivan Singh.

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“I’ll be 87 years old this year. What keeps me going is looking at the smile on the faces of those watching me perform,” says the artiste who was born in a farm in Louisiana and picked cotton as a six year old.

Life has come a full circle for Buddy Guy. He was discovered by the legendary Muddy Waters and now, Guy has a 24-year-old Ingram under his wing. A protégé, much like Guy, Ingram says these are undoubtedly the best days of his life.

“I get to spend some time with him. I keep picking his brain,” says a jubilant Ingram. “I learnt so much about life and music from him. Anything that I can use to stimulate the mind and help me create music, I am with it. I used to watch Mr Guy on the computer all the time so just to come here and be with him is an amazing feeling.”

For the seasoned Taj Mahal, this second trip to India is as exciting as when he was here the first time. “This is my second time here. I heard that this is sold out. In the United States a lot of young men are taking their passports to go and live in other countries and experience their culture. My family has had passports since 1902 since they came out of the Caribbean. I haven’t cleared 100 countries yet. I suppose I am somewhere near 90-91,” says the artiste who credits his success to being able to travel around the world.

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Mahal is not unaccustomed to Indian culture at all. “Bismillah Khan, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Paramahansa Yogananda. I grew up looking admiring these people,” he says, naming this eclectic mix of musicians and spiritual leaders.

But why India? “We were looking for something outside the Western point of view. I love the instruments the tempura or the veena. These instruments take you to another direction. Blues music too has that quality,” he explains.

But with Ivan Singh its a completely different scenario. For this musician traces his roots back to India. “This is insane that I am here. I have been looking forward to this all my life. This is very special for me. Three generations behind I am Indian. I think 130 years ago my grandfather left India to move to Argentina. I am the first person from my family to return here,” he says.

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Ask Singh about the how he sees blues music in India and he says: “I hope the blues keep getting bigger and bigger in India. I hope to keep coming back to play here. Every time I am on stage and see someone smiling and give me a hug, I realize how music is healing. I don’t see blues like old music (when asked about the decreasing popularity of blues since the 90s). I think it is coming back strong. It did go down for a while but it will never be out.”

Ingram, too, makes a string case for blues being evergreen. “Everything comes from the blues. So you can hear the blues element everywhere. Even if you give me heavy bass or EDM I can give you blues out of that,” he says.

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