The hippies may be long gone and flower power may well be just another chapter in the ‘annals of history’ omnibus, but in the middle of Sernabatim, a two-minute walk away from the beach, the 45th Anniversary of Woodstock will find that its soul lives on in the way it was intended to – through music. The duo already put together a total of 500 gigs, with this year itself having seen them host over 100 gigs in all. On Sunday, August 17, from 3 pm, there will be a series of musical performances lasting over eight hours, all aimed at celebrating Woodstock with peace, love and music. One of the organisers, Vinesh Iyer, says, “For us, Woodstock was something of tremendous importance because of its ability to bring people together and for all the right reasons. Besides, there isn’t much significance being given to the iconic festival anymore. The last project was undertaken by Remo a while ago.” His partner, Darryl Noronha, adds, “This project incorporates many artists that are perhaps performing after a while, such as Herman ‘Black’ Pereira, who has been considered the Jimi Hendrix of Bombay. For him, this will be a comeback set of sorts and will feature local bass legend Brian ‘Bones’ Monteiro and Gio from Italy, who is best known for his fantastic Italian cuisine, on drums. In addition to them, there will be a whole host of other artists who
will take the stage.” Speaking on the ‘open mic’ nature of Art Escape projects, Vinesh says, “We have always been keen to promote any and all performers and there will be a finale jam where we expect to see many artists take the stage.”
For the two lads from Sernabatim’s big stage, this will be a mammoth endeavour, where they will aim to unite people of all races and from all regions that speak one language, that of music. After all, Woodstock is a time when people, as Lennon and
McCartney once said, ‘come together’.
