BENGALURU: Ask jazz vocalist Radha Thomas on whether her upcoming album ‘Bangalore Blues’ revolves around the gloomy aspects of the city and she promptly denies and says it is more about the nostalgic feel of the city.
"It’s not about the terrible blues that we are facing with the traffic today, rather a different kind of Bengaluru. If you look at the cover made by artist Paul Fernandes, it depicts the iconic Koshy’s restaurant, so the album is more of a nostalgic feel towards the city," she says. The seven-track album is set to release on March 21 and features Thomas with her dusky vocals alongside Aman Mahajan on the piano.
It all started in 2011 when she was looking for a piano player and found Mahajan, who coincidentally lived just two streets away in Cox Town. The duo has been working together ever since. The tracks in the album were written over a period of 10 years, she says, adding that the title track, Bangalore Blues, was inspired during her time in New York when she longed the feeling of home.
She further emphasised on another track titled Load Shedding, which revolves around the frequent power cuts in the city. "If you listen to the song, it’s about how someone is stuck due to the power cut as one cannot access any gadgets or electronics but only a paper and pen or candle. It’s a song about current-day Bengaluru."'
Thomas, who started her career in Bengaluru in 1974, emphasises that although the city is known for its tech industry, she would also like the world to recognise the city as a place that delivers in the genre of jazz.
"When I started my career, we used to get a gig for six months at a place where you slowly develop an audience, which would keep coming back for the music. This was a time without the internet and live music was all that was there. Oddly in the past one- and- a-half year, live music scene has taken a beating in Bengaluru but there are concert places in the city, including smaller spaces, where I have performed myself and witnessed a large audience," she adds.