Das Poona Blues

The wailing of the Blues. I grew up with it and it lives deep within me.
Tracing its roots while attempting to play guitar licks in the style of the old
masters of the deep South has taken me on a long journey which
continues even though I am not active in the music scene these days.
I believe it's in me for good though I'm not sure if I sold my soul to the Devil.
I do know I get in a devilish mood sometimes, but that's fodder for another time.
The Blues may refer to a sad, depressive state of mind and yet it refreshes
and revives the soul which is why it is continuously being reworked globally,
on a daily basis.

Blues music is at the root of this year's Grammy winner Amy Winehouse's
singing and may be heard in the music of other recent Grammy winners like
Norah Jones and her step-sister, sitarist Anoushka Shankar. The universality
of the Blues is often just downright amazing especially when it pops up in the
least expected places, like rural Johannesburg's Hannes Coetzee who uses
a teaspoon in his mouth as a guitar slide.

So now I have this unusual bit of Blues news from an old Bishops' School
(Pune) alumnus about his new CD. I'm speaking of Rolf Heimann, a.k.a.
Professor Bottleneck. What's unusual here is that Rolf is from Germany,
studied in Pune, India, revisited India after a 40-year absence and now
after many years of being a scholar of the Delta Slide Blues has released
a Blues CD, with his new Pune experiences flavoring the project.
A YouTube clip called 'Poona Central' is viewable below if your
curiosity in India or the Blues is aroused. Personally I'm thrilled that the Blues
touches so many people in so many places in so many ways.


Here's an earlier post about Rolf's trip to Pune :
http://virtualpoona.blogspot.com/2007/01/shivaji-market.html