All that Blues

Among the bands and artistes featured in the fest will be Aviv Pereira from Split,G2 live,Blend no.3220,Blackwings,Blues Task Force Band,Soul Blues Collective,Wendy Burby Quartet featuring Christopher Fonceca from Strange Brew and Kiran Amati Duo.

The festival is the brainchild of Vernon Besterwitch,a passionate Blues musician and member of Pune-based band Work in Progress. The genre has consumed his musical appetite ever since his first tryst with it about three years ago.

“Once I got into the Blues,I left rock and pop. Blues is one of the oldest forms of western music and all other genres of music have a fair dose of Blues it in. But I realised that Blues musicians were hardly sharing the spotlight. Commercial gigs of rock music were taking over Pune’s venues,” says Besterwitch.

He says that the genre is also steadily making a comeback on to the global music scene.

Pereira from Mumbai-based band,Split,believes that Blues hasn’t yet taken route in his generation and his contemporaries prefer to indulge in classic rock,reserving Blues for the over-45 age-group.

All the more reason why he is looking forward to jamming with a whole new bunch of musicians who share his love for the genre. “This festival will have younger musicians and a mixed audience. It will give us musicians and Blues guitarists a proper platform dedicated to this genre,” says Pereira,who will perform longer solos also.

Rahula Chatz,member of Pune-based band The Blue Task Force,feels that Blues is still an enigma to most people. “Blues is misunderstood in the sense that many people don’t know it is the mother of rock and roll. The Blues has deep African-American roots that came out of depression and poverty. Back then,the African-Americans could not afford instruments; they would tie a rope to the roof and nail it to the floor and create music,while smoking their pipes and brewing liquor,” says Chatz.

Inspired by bands such as Rolling Stone,Led Zepplin,Pink Floyd,David Gilmore and Eric Clapton,who were great promoters of the genre,the band plans to reflect the history of Blues in their favourite ‘Swamp Blues’ style at the festival.

Brewhouse Blues festival will be held at First Blue House on April 6,2pm onwards.