The bearded bard that is Billy Gibbons,
the frontman of the globally iconic band, ‘ZZ Top’ would have us believe that
“The blues is a mighty long road. Or it could be a river, one that twists and
turns and flows into a sea of limitless musical potential.” This potential has
definitely moved, with all of Gibbons’ aforementioned fluidity to the lovely state
of Goa, that we all call home, where the blues has become an integral part of
many people’s lives and musical interests. This comes to the fore when a
gathering of many musicians is put together to celebrate what could potentially
be referred to as one big birthday bash for the blues.
On August 17, 2011 an online petition
was launched advocating for the establishment of an International Blues Music
Day. Within a few months, the petition-group was joined by thousands of
members from around the world, comprising blues enthusiasts, musicians,
celebrities, and promoters. After reaching 15,000 members, a formula for
an annual date to celebrate IBMD was established as the first Saturday in
August of each year with the inaugural celebration on August 3, 2013. In Goa,
there’s a special gig happening to commemorate the event. This is the fifth
edition/year in a row that Art Escape – The Live Music Project will be the only
official partner in India celebrating the blues. The event, curated by the
group’s two music icons, Darryl Noronha and Vinesh Iyer, is a gathering of
Goa’s top blues musicians, with over 10 artistes coming together, including two
bands and a Goa blues jam, in a special Sunday evening concert by the beach.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Speaking on what pushes them to put this
gig together, year on year, Vinesh shares, “We do our very best to celebrate,
promote and preserve the rich legacy, tradition, and future of great art form
and international language known as blues music, through this gig. While
International Blues Music Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of August, we
opted to celebrate it on a Sunday this year. I think that it’s rather exciting
that our event will coincide with over 100 simultaneous worldwide blues
concerts and events in celebration of International Blues Music Day!”
This year’s edition of the event is
designed to be a special tribute concert to Herman Pereira, known
affectionately as ‘Black Herman’, a blues guitarist from Mumbai, with roots in
Goa, who by many, was considered to be the Jimi Hendrix of India. Herman
expired as recently as June 30, 2017 in Candolim, at the age of 60.
The line-up at the promising event is
set to include two major acts. The first of these is ‘Goa Blues Collective’,
featuring Herman Abreo, Goa’s top blues man on vocals, guitar, and harp, Shayne
Ballantyne, a member of the new generation of blues guitarists of Goa on lead
guitar, Lew Hilt, a legendary bass player from Kolkata, and Vivek Philip, one
of Mumbai’s finest drummers. The second band in attendance is none other than
popular local act, ‘Demockracy’, featuring Vamsee Krishna on vocals and guitar,
Lester Godinho on drums, and Jason Quadros on keyboards.
Other guest jam artistes for the night
include Shanon Pereira, a guitarist from Mumbai, who is also Herman’s nephew,
and Fabian Jones, on blues harp, vocals and guitar. In addition to this, there
will be a series of surprise guest artistes who will take the stage over the
course of the night.
Speaking on what message they aim to
share through the showcasing of this genre, Darryl quotes blues balladeer,
Jimmy Rushing: “The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or
give you a feeling to swing.” He also points out, “Those are the emotions that
we want to evoke through this gig, apart from paying tribute to one of our
local greats – Herman. All that I genuinely ask of the audience is that, for
the love of good music, please come early!”
International Blues Music Day, will be celebrated
today, August 6, 2017 at Zeebop by the Sea, in Utorda – 6 PM onwards
