Music a symbol of peace and harmony and has always touched hearts and soul. The Century-old Bandstand culture was a unique feature in Mumbai. This fine tradition that has been revived by the Indiatourism and Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry – for continuation of the traditional and cultural legacy of the city.

A great attraction in the 1850s was the music that was played every evening after the sunset on Mumbai Greens, a vast fifteen-acre open-space opposite the Town Hall in the South Mumbai that later became the smaller Horniman Circle garden. It was a custom that continued from the days when the Governor of Mumbai resided in the Fort, in a building now popularly known as Old Secretariat. The practice to regale the Government House with music continued till the building was given up in 1860s when the Elphinstone (now Horniman) circle and other buildings were built. Until then, marching from the Town Major, located at the east-end of Hamam Street up to the end of Military Staff buildings, a band – consisting of drums and fifes and other instruments, played airs’. The brass band of an Infantry regiment went up and down promenading the Mumbai Green.

After restructuring the town following demolition of Fort Walls, regimental bands also began to play on the new reclamation at Apollo Bunder, where the Yatch Club was completed in 1881, the Taj Mahal Hotel in 1903 and the Gateway of India in 1924. The bands also performed once or twice a week in various Clubs – including Byculla Club (established in 1833), the Mumbai Gymkhana (established in 1875) and in later decades, the Wellingdon Club and Cricket Club of India. Among the regimental bands that played regularly were those of the Marine Batallion, 9^th Regiment, the Mumbai Volunteer Rifle, the 113^th Infantry, the GIP Railway volunteers, BB&CI Railway and the Governor’s Band. The services of regimental and private bands were engaged and the dates & venue were advertised in daily newspapers. A remarkable bonhomie among the spectators was evident at each recital.

As the Mumbai city improvement Trust developed new suburban areas north of island city, bandstands were built. These included –  Cooperage Garden, Girgaum Chowpatty (Kilachand Park), Victoria Garden at Byculla (now Jijamata Udyan), Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Garden (popularly known as Hanging Garden), Joseph Baptista Garden on Mazgaon Hill, King’s Circle Garden (Maheshwari Udyan) at Sion, Parsi Colony in Dadar and Bandstands in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The bandstands are maintained by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

The recitals continued for a few years after India’s Independence in 1947. Perhaps one of the finest and most moving performances was held at Apollo Bunder on February 28, 1948, marking departure of British forces from India. Detachment of the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry took place amidst guard of honour by troops from various Indian regiments. The soldiers closed ranks and marched slowly through the Gateway to the tune of Auld Land Syne played by the bands. The Governor read farewell message and troops marched down the stairs to their boats.

Live performances held during February-May 2010

32 youth bands performed live. These included bands like EOL Trio Jazz Band from France, Something Relevant, Ankur Tiwari and Ghalat Family, Lambada, Tough on Tobacco, Dischordian, The Mavyns, Spook, The Pulp Society, Shor Bazar, Radio, Seher, Coshish, Moksha, Vajra, Spook, Highway 61, Snatch D’Monk, The Colour Compound, Kamaal Ke Phool and the Institutional Police Band which evoked the nostalgia of the older generation with patriotic numbers. The grooving performances of these youth bands and the ethnic flavour brought back the indomitable Mumbai spirit.

Program Guide 2011

BLAKC + BOMBAY BASSMENT
March 12th | Kamala Nehru Udyan, Malabar Hills (Hanging Garden)

DISCHORDIAN + RANG
March 19th | Kamala Nehru Udyan, Malabar Hills (Hanging Garden)

MCGM BAND + ANKIT DAYAL + VASUDHA SHARMA
April 2nd | Kamala Nehru Udyan, Malabar Hills (Hanging Garden)

POLICE BAND + ANKUR TEWARI & THE GHALAT FAMILY
April 16th | Veer Prabhu Deshpande & Sant Dyaneshwar Udyan (Dadar Chowpatty)

SOMETHING RELEVANT + AIRPORT
April 30th | Veer Prabhu Deshpande & Sant Dyaneshwar Udyan (Dadar Chowpatty)

POLICE BAND + SPLIT
May 7th | Carter Road Amphitheater

SLOW DOWN CLOWN + SHOR BAZAAR
May 14th | Kamala Nehru Udyan, Malabar Hills (Hanging Garden)

THE COLOR COMPOUND + THE PULP SOCIETY
May 21st | Carter Road Amphitheater, Bandra

FINALE (TBC)
May 28th | Kamala Nehru Udyan, Malabar Hills (Hanging Garden)

TIME : All concerts will be held between 5.30-8:00 pm sharp

Piya Sukanya

The Bombay Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s initiative towards revival of bandstand culture in the city has been gaining momentum since its beginning in February.
The weekly affair at the Hanging Gardens, Malabar Hill, where every Saturday between 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, young and talented musicians of Mumbai play their original compositions, has created quite a buzz amongst music enthusiasts in the city. The Big M is proud to be associated with this movement to bring out talented and budding musicians and give them a platform to reach a larger audience in the city.
As part of our special feature covering the ‘Revival of Bandtsand Culture’ initiative, we bring to you few of the performances held here in the month of March.
6th March ’10: As the sun set marking the beginning of a lovely Saturday evening, it was time for two hugely talented artists – Pia Sukanya and Anushka Anand to step on stage and take the eagerly awaiting crowd on a nice little musical journey. Pia Sukanya the first performer of the evening crooned compositions that everybody could relate to. Her ‘Boxes on a string’, was about moving out from her cushy apartment. ‘Just Routine’, was a memorable love song in which she sang of the simple gestures of her lover, which made her feel special.

Electro

The guy sitting next to me found her long skirt and styling to be a reminiscence of the eccentric singer Phoebe Buffay , from the popular sitcom ‘Friends’. At the mention of this, Sukanya laughs saying, “Never got that one before! I admire that character and I am a nomad too!”
I could not resist my curiosity when I saw one of the French tourists present there taking photographs of Sukanya and blushing whenever she looked his way. On my questioning Arnaud, the French guy, he said “I think Pia is a Rock Princess telling us a musical fairy tale.” He found the songs based on her personal life quite intriguing and Sukanya strikingly beautiful.
Sukanya’s songs were blended with strumming of guitar strings by Sanjoy Das. What distinguished this guitarist was the fact that he could play Raag Jhanjat on his Spanish guitar during one of Sukanya’s songs. Had I not seen him play it myself, I would have assumed it to be a Sitar playing the raag. It was indeed a rare feat. On enquiring Das informed me that his guitar wasn’t one of those ordinary assembly line ones, but made exclusively from the wood of North American forests, hand-crafted at Mexico.

A Sploosh of Acoustics

Rahul Pandey

After Sukanya, came an equally talented Anushka Anand a member of the band ‘Noush like sploosh’, accompanied with acoustics. She could play her Banjo, blow through the harmonica and sing at the same time, just like Jim Carey’s character from the movie ‘Mask’. The tall, lanky and chic singer swooned the audience with her catchy numbers.
There was an elderly gentleman who was wheelchair bound, yet he and his wife found the performances at Bandstand pleasant enough to come there every week from Tardeo. The gentleman said that it reminded him of his heydays; when Pt. Ravi Shankar carried out recitals early in the morning at The Gateway of India.
27th March ’10: Two weeks later, on March 27th, rock band ‘Coshish’ added to the now lengthy list of artists performing at this venue, as it gave the crowd a taste of some Hindi rock. Though, a fair amount of credit for getting the crowd in the groove also goes to the cheer-leaders who the band had brought along. Well, don’t get too excited. The cheer-leaders here are not the ‘short skirt babe’ type; but, a bunch of ‘Coshish’ fans who follow the band wherever it performs.
“I call them the Coshish Brigade”, corrects Mangesh Gandhi, the lead singer of the band. “Your readers can also follow us on Myspace for videos and Facebook for updates and joining the Coshish Brigade” he adds enthusiastically.

Coshish

“You spell ‘cool’ with a ‘c’ and hence ‘Coshish’ is with a ‘c’ as we are so cool!” Gandhi added explaining the detour from the conventional spelling.
In the rest of the departments the band is pretty conventional, delivering what you expect. A bunch of four long haired guys: Srikant Srinivasan (lead guitar), Anish Nair (bass guitar) joined by Humza Kazi (drums) and Gandhi (lead singer) to whom you have already been introduced.
During the performance, the band was joined by Kaushik Ramchandran, a self-trained classical singer from ‘Paradigm Shift’, a Mumbai based band. The alaaps of Ramchandran blended well with the sound of Coshish and the crowd loved every bit of it.
It seemed that the quick thinking and on-stage improvisations succeeded in connecting with the crowd. And this is probably what made the band a choice of Radio-Mirchi. Yes guys, the band got an opportunity to perform on this stage after crossing Radio Mirchi’s battleground.
So, next Saturday, if you feel the need to unwind and soak yourself in some great original music, feel welcome to take a walk at Hanging Gardens.

What is in it for The Big M readers?

Well, if you always felt that you had the talent which can be appreciated beyond the four walls of your bathroom too. Then here is your chance to do the dance, I mean song. Call up Kavita Sharma, 022-22693896 or mail her at ks@bombaychamber.com, and get a chance to do a ten minutes opening act next Saturday or perform in the Grand Finale.

Article by Kirti Tarang

A hundred and fifty years ago, the Britishers built ‘bandstands’ all over the city. As the term suggests, they were stands for bands; sheds in parks within which artists would perform. As time has passed places for open air performances in the city have dwindled in number.

Revival of the Bandstand Culture

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry has started an initiative ‘Revival of the Bandstand Culture’ in order to change the scene of open air performances in the city. Unfortunately, from among the 11 remaining original bandstands only two are accessible; one in Dadar and the other at Hanging Gardens, Malabar Hills which is the venue of this 3 month long event. Every Saturday up to end of May, two artists will perform and promote music; not for money, not for fame but just for the sake of music.

Band Stand Performances

Saturday, 27^th of February saw the performance of none other than our very own Mumbai Police Band. A group of 30 odd policemen playing a varied range of instruments including the clarinets, horns, drums, etc. The joy was evident in their faces while playing in front of such a crowd. The humility was something to admire. The other performance for the day was that of Mumbai’s famed ‘jam band’ Something Relevant. The crowd was treated to a never before seen fusion of STR and the Police Band for a brief period before STR took over. In the words of the drummer of the Police Band, Mr. Deepak Kasare, “In my 19 years of service, this has been one of the best shows ever.”

Something Relevant then took over with their trademark stage presence and energy. The beauty of seeing them perform lies in the fact that they truly enjoy playing music. It is evident in all their shows. Their playlist included their originals like ‘Ahaa’ (with the Police Band accompanying them), ‘Harry Mole’, ‘Mosquitoes’ and also covers like the Pakistani band – The Call’s ‘Pukar’ and ‘Smooth Criminal’. All performed with the same enthusiasm and energy.

The Bombay Chamber, which had also initiated The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival hopes that this event too will gain momentum soon and will become as big as Kala Ghoda. One thing is for certain, if you are looking for pure unadulterated music in the purest environment, this is the place to be every Saturday all the way up to May.

Article by Nikunj Bhaiya
Images Courtesy: Shashank Kapur