Imagine This

“John Lennon has been an inspiration to every musician,” says guitarist Derek Julien. Described by his fraternity and music lovers as one of the country’s finest guitarists,Julien will perform a powerful acoustic gig along with guitarist Vineet Alurkar as a tribute to Lennon on his birthday. The gig will be held at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,on Sunday.

Alurkar and Julien have performed together before and this year they will be joined by Bhupal Limaye on mandolin and Navin on flute. “This is the first time we are doing an acoustic set. Acoustic is hard to deliver. It exposes you and thus is challenging,” says Alurkar. The set will be more like Lennon’s solo work – bare minimum music and hard hitting.

Though based in the city,Julien hasn’t taken centrestage in a long while. “I’ve cut down on shows and am focussed more on my home studio. Even if I’ve done shows,they’ve been abroad,” he says.

Remembering the days when the band Waterfront,of which Julien was an integral part,created a cult following and even toured Europe in the early 70s,he says,”We did it all ourselves.” Today’s music scene is drastically different from the 70s,but it’s promising,Julien feels. “Our guys are on an upsurge. People are more open to music. See,everything changes. It’s how you adapt to it that matters,” he adds.