Ain't nothing blue about the blues

Indians are being introduced to the full spectrum of blues music, from hall-of-fame performers to contemporary sensations. And it isn't all melancholic.

Dana Gillespie, the larger-than-life virtuoso of the bawdy blues of the '20s and '30s, got up on stage and clarified, "This concert is called Strictly Blues because it is exactly that. There won't be a jazz note tonight; nor will there be any rock."

The disclaimer wasn't untoward. India offers a seemingly unlikely audience for blues, and we are quick to speak of blues and jazz in the same breath. Yet, there have been at least four blues performances in the last two months.

It started with Buddy Guy, then the Blues Brothers Band and Walter Trout, and this last weekend, the Strictly Blues festival delivered a range of performers and genres of blues to the cities of Mumbai and Pune.

Padmini Mirchandani, CEO, Stage One, dreamed up Strictly Blues. "I love the blues and have been talking about staging a blues event for years but it was Dana (Gillespie) who finally made it happen. She's been running a similar festival in the Caribbean island of Mustique for eight years, so she had the know-how."

Gillespie herself is no stranger to India. In 2002, she and the London Blues band toured 11 cities across the country. Lesser known is the fact that she has recorded three albums in Sanskrit under a pseudonym.

But Gillespie shared the limelight on Saturday with other performers of surpassing skill, who beamed with delight when asked if audience response lived up to anticipation.

"I think the audience for blues is lurking somewhere, but they need the opportunity to indulge in it," says Mirchandani. And indulge they did, wildly cheering on Gillespie's double entendres, Dino Baptiste and his left-hand piano skills, Zach Prather's urbanised electrified Chicago blues and the prodigious Julien Brunetaud and his music that dangles somewhere between blues and boogie woogie.

Young Brunetaud, all of 23, who incidentally opened for B B King last year, was the crowd favourite by a small margin.

Says Gillespie, "I am always asked why blues is such a downer, but it isn't. I want to raise awareness that it's good time music; stop intellectualising and just tap your foot to it." And so the musicians launched a charm offensive, which worked "" there was dancing and appreciative gesticulating among the small but very excited audience and the performers stepped up their stage antics reciprocally.

The cynical would say the concerts were a sell-out because the venues were small. Mirchandani clarifies, "Most musical shows in India are like theatrical performances; we wanted this to be limited. Anyway blues are meant to be enjoyed in a smoky, grimy room with rusty bar stools".

The setting in Mumbai (in a restored heritage space), however, was far from grimy and the audience a privileged bunch (tickets cost Rs 1,000 a piece).

Jayashree Subramanium is the lead singer for Skinny Alley, a veteran group of musicians whose musical repertory includes rock, jazz and just a dash of blues. She doesn't believe there's an audience for blues in India... yet.

"One has to be patient with blues because even in a live format it is a slowly evolving music, like an alaap even; also there's not enough variety in it for an ordinary listener to discern."

Ajay Mehra, CEO, Planet M, is forced to agree, "The audience for jazz itself is small, blues is probably a quarter of that (there's the comparison to jazz again). We have to import much of our blues collection, but it's a category of continuing interest for us even though response is still not terribly encouraging."

Rudy Wallang of Shillong-based Soulmate however, is a far from discouraged blues musician.

"We do only blues and the last two years have been very hectic for us. We've found that there are pockets of hardcore blues lovers all over India," he says. The band has performed in over 35 gigs since last October, and is in the midst of its 14-city tour in the North-east to promote its latest album.

"This tour will be a true test because North-east India is perceived to be a total MTV generation that is into music that's 'now'." says Wallang. The band has baptised its specific sound "Indian blues' "" influenced by music greats like Coco Taylor, B B King, and Roy Buchanan. "If there can be a British blues invasion, why not an Indian blues movement? Minus the tablas and sitars, of course," laughs Wallang.

Subramanium finds herself shying away from singing the blues. "Musicians have to understand the sociology of the blues. Even though as a musical form it's not as sophisticated as jazz (the comparison again), the nuances of expression are vast. One bend of the guitar, one turn of your voice, can convey a thousand things."

Prather laughs off this apparent pressure, "Willy Dickinson once said blues are the facts of life. I tell musicians that the blues is about you; tell your story and don't try and imitate, because that's when it comes out all wrong."

Meanwhile Gillespie and Mirchandani are already planning next year's festival. "The proof of the pudding will be in how many people turn up next year, says Gillespie. True. If the names aren't of the stuff of legends and the novelty of it wears off, interest may be hard to sustain. But for now, it's just refreshing to see people surprised at just how good the blues can make you feel.