Street Music on Linking Road, Bandra

 30 November 2014

 

The feeling of freedom on Bandra Linking Road this Sunday morning was an experience of a lifetime. Groups of college students sprawled across the road; children with their bicycles and tricycles; and adults dressed in sweatshirts, track pants, and sneakers walked around with no worries. Zumba freaks got down to serious workouts, while musicians played upbeat music. 

"Equal Streets"—Pedestrians and cyclists on Linking Road, Bandra

The "Equal Streets" initiative by the Times of India set Sunday morning apart from the usual mundane mornings. One side of the Linking Road was closed to traffic and open only to pedestrians, joggers, cyclists, children, skaters, and all. No traffic interrupted them between 7.00 AM and 11.00 AM. This happens every Sunday morning (from November to May) on Linking Road, Bandra, making it possible for Mumbaites to experience the joy of having a road all to themselves without traffic. 

Musicians and music fans took to the streets with guitars, tambourines, accordions, and percussion. The music drowned the usual cacophony of traffic on Linking Road, starting from Bandra to Juhu. You don't get to listen to this type of music every day. Street music has a charm of its own. 

The crowd playing tambourines and djembes 

Says Amit Dhuri, who led a band of musicians and music fans at one of the street corners, "The popular Bhargava's music store at Bandra has lent us some of their music instruments and djembes to jam up on the street. So here we are having fun with the music. Anybody can join in." 

Arvind, a resident of Bandra, was busy playing the djembe along with a group of musicians. He says, "I am not a musician, but I am just following the beat and having the time of my life. This is not something that happens every day, you know."

A group of musicians with dholaks,
harmonica and cymbals singing bhajans

The bhajan band, clad in saffrons and whites, was singing while playing the accordion, dholaks, and cymbals. Their music (which comprised bhajans and kirtans) was simply contagious, and a huge crowd joined in the singing and dancing.

College students from one of the city colleges teamed up on stage to sing Bollywood tunes while the crowd asked for more. Zumba enthusiasts took to the stage, dancing to Zumba beats while the crowd followed their dance steps, making it look like a serious workout. 

At one end of the road, two amateur percussionists were playing a jazz drum set. Not to forget the two guitarists who stood on the street with a music stand, playing emotional songs that could almost make you burst into tears. 

It was a morning of great street music on Linking Road, Bandra, making it one of the most sought-after places to hang out on a Sunday morning.

See you there next Sunday. Don't shy away. Bring along any music instrument that you can play, or if you can't, just exercise your vocal cords and sing along. Let's make more music on the streets.

ADM Revival: "We play music that we like to listen to"

  November 30, 2014

 

Their guitars do all the talking. They play a different rhythm altogether. Just in case you aren't familiar with Gypsy Jazz, ADM Revival is here to introduce it to you.

ADM Revival playing at the Carter Road Bandstand
From (L)to (R) Nicholas, Arjun and Nabeel

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Three guitarists (all in their early twenties) Nicholas Vaz,  Nabeel  Lakhani and Arjun Thakar who call themselves Acoustic Dance Music Revival know perfectly well how to jazz up their music at bandstands, music festivals, pubs and other venues in Mumbai city. They endeavour to popularise Gypsy Jazz; a genre of music which originated in France in the 1930's. 

The trio performed at the recently held Times Bandra Festival on November 29th at the Carter Road Bandstand. It was the right place and the right time.  ADM Revival took over the bandstand perched on the sea coast of the dark Arabian sea, and strummed their guitars, churning out some of the best gypsy jazz tunes of old times. 

The trio's lead guitarist Nicholas who looked rather contented post the performance says "This venue is great and we are looking forward to play at different venues." ADM Revival is only a year old, and the trio is all out to play at different venues and reach a wider audience in Mumbai city and also other destinations such as Goa. Says Nicholas "We are looking forward to have performances in Goa, because Goa is a great destination for music." ADM Revival has to its credit, performances at Blue Frog (Lower Parel), Cheval Restaurant (Fort, South Mumbai), Urban Bonfire at The Hive (Khar), Thespo 15 at Prithvi Theatre among other venues.

Further, speaking about why the trio took to Gypsy Jazz, Arjun the vibrant bassist of ADM Revival says "we chose to play gypsy jazz because we like to play the music that we like to listen to." Gypsy Jazz which is also popularly known as Gypsy Swing or Hot Club Jazz is a genre of music which was made popular by guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930's. The music is  distinct from mainstream jazz.  Tunes such as Dark Eyes, Nuages, Limehouse blues, Swing 42, Minor Swing are only some of the hit Gypsy Jazz tunes among many others. However, gypsy jazz players  can adapt any song to this style of music.

This style of music requires great strumming skills on the guitar and the style of the lead and the rhythms is very unique. The fast swinging feel is the result of quick strumming and keeping up the pace and speed is an important feature of gypsy jazz. So how do they get it right? Arjun chuckles while he says "we practice together but now with a day job, it is difficult to meet regularly. We try to get together to practice at least a week or two before our performances." 

The trio definitely presents an impressive performance. So the next time you see or hear the name ADM-Revival, you know what to do. Head straight to the place where they are performing and groove to some classy gypsy jazz.