CounterCulture Presents An Ode To The Blues at CounterCulture, Bangalore

An Ode To The Blues is a Bangalore based festival that pays it’s tribute to the Blues – past, present and future.

An Ode To The Blues is a Bangalore based premier festival that pays it’s tribute to the Blues – past, present and future. Set up in 2011, this sonic change occurred in the city’s music scene when the 100th birthday of Robert Johnson – known as the father of the Blues was celebrated.
Today, An Ode To The Blues is known as one of the biggest ‘small’ festivals in the country. The week leading up to this festival sees the city in its prime form with the whole city reverberating to Blue tunes through Blues Around Town a living breathing festival within a festival.
Conceptualised and organized by CounterCulture, An Ode To The Blues this year will see two stages with a host of artistes, and also includes a performance by Texan Blues legend Guitar Shorty.

CounterCulture began as a restaurant, a bar and an open space. It originated with a thought to encourage and showcase alternative ideas – a thought that transformed along the way to become a versatile platform for creative pursuits. Now in its fourth year, CounterCulture is all the more determined, and excited, to create new experiences for those who walk in through its big, yellow gates. While we continue to design a wide range of live performances, we are now applying our signature experimental approach to more than just music. Bringing art to the kitchen are our new chefs equipped with decades of experience in restaurants you’ve known and loved. Besides fusing innovation into culinary classics, they have come up with alternative recipes that prop our food and beverage offerings several notches higher.

At CounterCulture, we work as a family to develop a nexus of interesting ideas in a relaxed factory space. Keeping creative perfection as the only constant between genres, CounterCulture invites you with a promise to engage all your senses.

LINEUP FOR AN ODE TO THE BLUES

ROBERT JOHNSON STAGE: Guitar Shorty [USA], Soulmate [Shillong] BlackStratBlues [Mumbai], Ministry of Blues, The Chronic Blues Circus and more

ROOTS BLUES STAGE: By2Blues, Velvet Mojo, Sylvester Trio and more

Guitar Shorty is an American blues guitarist. He is well known for his explosive guitar style and wild stage antics. Shorty is known to have influenced many guitar players, but notably among them – Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy. Shorty was born in Houston but grew up mainly in Kissimmee, Florida where he began playing the guitar at an early age and began leading a band not long after. During his time in Tampa Bay, Florida, at age 16 he received his nickname, Guitar Shorty, when it mysteriously showed up on the marquee of the club he was playing as ‘The Walter Johnson Band featuring Guitar Shorty. Shorty gigged steadily through the late 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s he worked as a mechanic, playing music at nights and on weekends. He again became a full-time musician in 1975, struggling at times to make ends meet. In 1976 he made an appearance on Chuck Barris’ Gong Show, winning first prize for performing the song “They Call Me Guitar Shorty” while balanced on his head. In the 90’s, Shorty’s career started getting back on track. But it wasn’t until 2004, when he was signed to Alligator Records, that Shorty started receiving all of the accolades that he deserved. Since then, Guitar Shorty has released three brilliant, hard hitting records, that rival any other Blues/Rock artists on the planet.