Blues Musician Society (India) & Guitar Studio.

With its roots in the premises of Guitar Studio, Blues Musician Society (India) is a brainchild of Mr. Amit Upadhyay (Director, Guitar Studio). Being a dedicated musician and an avid connoisseur of blues music, Amit has for long been emphasizing on the importance of blues as a genre of music in his sessions.

Blues music has always formed a considerable part in all the sessions, jams and meets conducted and executed by members of Guitar Studio, often with the help of our much respected seniors and valued friends from outside. Before going any further, we would like to discuss the genre as seen through our eyes. Going beyond technicalities, we must take this opportunity to describe our feelings for this stream of music. Blues has often lost its ground under the pressure of more contemporary styles of music. But blues never faded away. Blues cannot fade away. Seldom has there been a life devoid of the feelings that lay the foundation of blues music. Seldom has there been a musician who has not, in times of melancholy, hummed or played a tune which had its origins deep rooted in his/her soul. That tune was blues for sure. John Lee Hooker was once quoted as saying, “Wherever you are, there is no stop and go for the blues. The blues go but it don’t stop”. Blues indeed doesn’t stop, it indeed has no end. It doesn’t have to warrant attention as it is omnipresent, displaying its very own silent but powerful ways. Blues Musician Society (India) was formed with an intent to indulge ourselves into the world of blues music and grow in it to achieve greater levels of understanding of this fascinating stream of music.

Now, it is time to analyze one of the most critical aspects concerning this society – the analysis of where we stand and the direction we want to head towards. As discussed earlier, the appreciation we had for blues confined itself, till recently, to learning the art of playing blues music and conducting jam sessions with musicians known to us. Amit’s association with music aficionados across the country helped those associated with Guitar Studio to interact with them and derive valuable tips regarding the understanding and application of music. As mentioned above, blues music had often been discussed in the sessions conducted. We had often been exposed to newer facets of the genre by experienced musicians and their incisive insights helped us grow. We still are very much into the aforementioned activities, but at the same time, dream of gradually taking these interactions to higher levels, predominantly by increasing our reach. There is a Bengali adage which says “Joto Mot, Toto Poth”, meaning “The number of ways are only as many as the number of opinions”. We appreciate it and therefore, through Blues Musician Society (India), aim to unite blues musicians across the country. We urge you all to share with us your precious comments, suggestions and experiences. Further, we are planning to conduct “Blues Meets” twice a month with members of the society, wherein we all sing, play and have fun. We are making arrangements for these meets in Delhi (and NCR) as of now, and have plans of taking them to other locations across the country in times to come. We are also working on various developmental aspects that we believe will take this initiative forward.

At this juncture, this must be conveyed that all members of Blues Musician Society (India) are as valuable as the group itself. Your valuable inputs have already started pouring in, and truth be told, they have already improved the status of the society. Before summing it up, we would like to share with all the members a famous quote by our very own and much respected Riley “Blues Boy” King, which says “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you”. If we keep this aspect deep-rooted in our minds, the passion for exploring and growing will never subside. So, we all must keep speaking to each other, keep helping each other out, and keep sharing our experiences and thoughts with each other. The quest for learning about this fascinating genre should be unending. Welcome you all!!!!