The Telegraph
Culcutta, India
It was yesterday once more at Ho Chi Minh Sarani last week. And the blast from the past came in the form of Arthur Gracias. The Indo-jazz composer, guitarist and pianist was in Calcutta to take part in an evening of fusion music blending the East and the West at the Satyajit Ray Auditorium. Old-timers will remember Gracias as a part of the pantheon of rock, jazz and blues artistes that included Joe Pereira, Pam Crain, Louis Banks and Usha Uthup and rocked the city in the 60s and the 70s. Gracias, now based in Australia, also composed music for such critically acclaimed films as Gudia and Dekha. “Gracias performed at a proper concert in Calcutta after 15 long years. Our idea was to bring back Park Street as it was in the days of yore,” says Santanu Ghosh, who organised the concert along with filmmaker Goutam Ghose. Incidentally, Ghose’s son Ishaan, a percussionist, also made his musical debut at the concert. Clearly, age was no bar in the nostalgia fest.