Guest Writer: Jayen Varma Guest Interview

Our guest writer today is quite interesting and unique! Jayen Varma of India holds the World Record in Bass Guitar as ‘Fastest Bassist’. This was declared by The Registry of Official World Records (Record Holders Republic) USA & UK in the year 2008. He plays Bass Guitar in the same way that the Indian percussion instruments Tabla, Mridangam and Kanjira are played. Jayen is another one of myspace friends that I asked to be a guest writer. As our guest writer, I sent Jayen a bunch of questions and asked him to answer them. Let's see what he has to say about the blues scene in India and how someone becomes the World Fastest Bass Player!


1) What made you want to be the fastest bass player?

My tough times in life!!! In 2004, I had to sell my one and only bass guitar, which I call ‘the tough times in my life’ or my blues. Since I did not have a bass guitar for around three years, I resorted to do only finger exercises on my mobile phone and a tool which I made myself. Having no bass guitar was a blessing in disguise! Slowly, I realized that I was getting better in speed with the finger exercises. At the end of 2006, I got a 150 USD bass guitar and decided to make my playing official and created a World Record in 2008.

2) How did you prepare for it?

I was doing a job other than music till 2008, playing bass guitar part time in professional bands since 1986 and learning the bass lines of hundreds of cover songs by different bands. Before that I was playing drums and the Indian classical percussion instrument mridangam. Everyday I had to sit three hours in a train since my work was in a very distant place, so during the ride I practiced. I used to practice around seven hours a day. With the help of a few musicians and sound engineering friends, I verified my playing speed using computers in studios. I had read that Adrian Davison of USA used to play piano style bass at 31 notes per second. I decided to make my playing a record and completed all the official formalities with The Registry of Official World Records USA and UK. After verification they confirmed in 2008 that my playing was 36 percussive notes per second.

3) Do you think you're the only fast bassist?

No, I do not think so. There are many fast bass players with different styles and techniques in the world. They may not be interested in going for a record. I cannot even imagine how they play their styles so beautifully. I did it because I just wanted to do it. I am still learning to be good in making good music and grooves.

4) What is Indian Slap Bass and how did you develop it?

I never had a bass instructor, so I had to play according to my convenience. Since I had a little knowledge of the Indian classical percussion instrument mridangam and ragas, I was applying Indian classical raga scales with mridangam/tabla style percussive playing on the Bass Guitar. It became a new genre of unconventional funk bass. It is slapping the strings without using thump, but hitting with 1st then 2nd and 3rd fingers held together, like playing tabla. The playing style is slightly different from the usual slab bass when backing Indian classical music.



5) Is there a blues foundation in India?

Though nothing as big as in the west, the blues and jazz lovers in India have formed certain communities and created special events to make things alive every year. Thanks to all who are responsible for this.

6) Which is your bass Guitar?

Now I play an Indian handmade 5 string bass guitar named Stelsie. Cost of my guitar is below 300 USD. There are many good luthiers in India and in India we get good wood to build the body.

7) Could you tell us about the music culture in India? Are there clubs to play? Is there much blues music?

Indian music culture is based on Indian classical music. I have to say that nowadays Indian classical music is more appreciated outside India, since the masses in India are for commercial filmy pop music. The film industry is a very profitable business in India. Film singers are more popular than other musicians here. So the best places for blues, jazz and classical musicians from India are in countries outside India. There are of course clubs in India to perform blues and jazz.

8) What are some of the challenges a musician faces in India?

Like I said, Indian classical music, blues and jazz are comparatively less popular in India compared to filmy pop music. So blues and jazz musicians find it hard to survive and they often look forward to collaborating with musicians outside India. Though there is a good response for blues in India, blues and classical musicians are paid a very low remuneration compared to cinema singers. There are some hotels and clubs in some cities hosting blues. This is of course a blessing for the musicians.

9) What do you wish to yet accomplishment in music?

I hope to popularize Tabla style Indian Slap Bass across the World and also wish to make sure that this kind of slap bass can be used in Indian classical music as well as blues and jazz. I am yet to release an album. I am also serving the underprivileged, disabled and homeless children to discover the real potential within them by igniting their minds. I desire to make an international project to help the children.

9) What are your favorite blues songs to play?

I love songs like Hoochie Coochie Man, Five long years, Still Got The Blues, Down In The Hole and many more, I really love 12 bar blues.
I enjoy blues artists like B.B.King, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, Tina Turner, Robert Cray, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Keith Richards, the list goes on and on.



10) Who inspires you the most?

I love all the bassists. I have been learning bass by watching videos and listening to bass lines by different electric bassists like Jaco Pastorius, Bootsy Collins, Jeff Berlin, Stuart Hamm, Billy Sheehan, Billy Cox, John EntWistle, Abraham Laboriel Sr, Larry Graham, Victor Wooten and many others. Every Bassist inspires me. And I love to see anyone holding a bass guitar.

11) Who were the artists that influenced your work?

Many musicians, I cannot name just a few. But I got the idea of pace from the name Shadkala Govinda Marar of India who lived in 1700-1800 AD. He was considered the fastest singer who ever lived in India. He used to sing at demi semi quaver speed (32nd notes). Playing fast may not always be music, but many musicians have experimented with it, even centuries back.

12) Where can we find you? Internet, radio, TV, appearances?

It is hard to do something with bass guitar from India in the international arena. The easiest way to know the music outside India is via the Internet. In the 70s and 80s I used to regularly listen to rock, blues and jazz from radio stations like Voice of America, Radio Australia, BBC etc. I even received letters and photos of Willis Conover and Duke Ellington in the 80s by posting on Voice of America, since I used to regularly listen to the jazz hour and respond to them by sending letters from India. In the 90s availability of CDs and tapes became easy.
Of course I have been featured on Radio and TV stations in India and elsewhere. MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are the places where I interact with musicians.

Jayen Varma
India





Read from another guest writer who is from Australia: Gerry Joe Weise

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher/Jayen Varma. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2009 Jayen Varma. All Rights Reserved.


To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.

CHICAGO: Bill's Blues Bar

Bill's Blues Bar is one of those clubs that has seen a lot of different players. Anybody who is anybody in the Chicago Blues scene has played there at one time or another. It is another shotgun type bar with a bar along one side and tables on the other. The stage is just inside the building street side. with a huge storefront window. I played there this past Friday with my friend L V Banks. L V has played the joint so many times he can't remember how many, but he told me when I asked, "A bunch." I have written about L v in previous posts for the American Blues Blog.

His regular drummer Brian called me late Tuesday and asked if I could play. I never miss an oppurtunity to play bass for one of Chiacgo's legendary blues men. When L V saw me walk in a huge smile came upon his face. He likes the way I play bass. L V is a lumpty lump type blues guy.

I arrived at 8:00 pm for a 8:30 start. There was a group ahead of us called Neither/Nor. I sat at the bar, mid section, ordered a coke and decided to listen. I could not figure out what they were playing. I guess I am not at the intellectual level to understand their kind of music. A woman sitting next to me told me they are filling up a musical space. Filling up a space yes but with music no. Noise yes, music no. The best I can say is if they were playing Avant Garde Jazz then that is what they were doing. I can't critique Avante Garde Jazz, for that matter I do not think anyone is capable of that job. I once met a free form jazz artist named Hal Russell. Hal played vibraphone at a Cajun restaurant I frequented back in the mid eighties. He invited my wife and I to a free concert that was held in the attic of a house he rented. The concert utilized various types of instruments including garbage can lids. That was my first introduction into free form Jazz and my last. Hal actually made a living at it. I guess some people like that kind of music.

The band stopped promptly at 8:30. By the time they were off the stage we did not play until 9:15. LV Banks is a blues man that has paid his dues and it really bugs me when fans walk up and demand that he play other artist's music . Play some BB King, Elmore James this guy asked.
I don't think fans request BB to play L V's music. We played a solid hour set and then took a 20 minute break. after the break we played about 20 more minutes and then called it a night. Bill's Blues Bar is an anchor in the Chicago land blues scene and should be made an historical Land mark. I had a really great time at Bill's Blues Bar and you will also.

That's the end of the Bill's Blues Bar story. I have a humorous piece I'd like to share

"What Is A Blues Man?"

A bluesman has to live up a dusty dirt road and must get up early in the morning or at least everything important in his life happens then. A real blues man is at least fifty years old and never, ever has any money. He will always ask if he can hold a twenty. He gives a spiel about how he will pay you back on the first which by the way never arrives. He will always have enough money to buy a beer, some cognac, and cigarettes. Real bluesmen have at least ten kids by six different women. You can recognize those women because they are the ones in the parking lot of the venue he is currently performing in and they are also the ones spontaneously brawling in that same lot. You can spot a true blues man because he is always in a hurry. He is constantly looking over his shoulder to see if his new or old wife is chasing him. She always is and with a gun. He knows that at any moment it may be his last. Why not enjoy it while he can? A Blues man spends his entire adult life like a gypsy or Bedouin. His whole life is about the road. He’d spend a night in that town then another in that town and on and on. Like a sailor with a girl in every port, he has his share of overnight accommodations and as a result of his shenanigans he has children running around and chasing him. They all claim he is their father. He of course would deny each and every one. He allows some to get close, but only if they have the potential of becoming his future side men. He uses them and hopes they will understand when he pockets the money he was supposed to pay them. It’s a lot cheaper that way and equals more money in his pocket. His excuse for not paying these kin sidemen is that the van needs brakes. Funny every time he uses those brakes he has to down shift.





Gatorman

Terrance Lape
Look for my Cd at Amazon.com
http://www.zazzle.com/terlap*
Photos by Kathy Crnich

Chicago Sunday Night in The City

Sunday Night in the City

Any night of the week you can hear the blues on the west, the east, the north, and the south sides of Chi-Town. In any one of those city-spots there are blues artists, some on stage and some not. Here's a story of one of the greats.

Robert Schmidt (AKA) Smilin Bob is his name. I met Bob in September of 1977. I had just completed a tour of active duty in the US Navy prior to that encounter. I went to work in a west side heavy equipment manufacturing plant. The union assigned me to this particular company. It was my first regular day job and my last. The place was huge, employed about 1,200 workers and encompassed almost a half mile of land.

I started playing guitar in 1960. Bass has been my main instrument and I held my own in many different situations. The guys I worked with found out about my "guitarmanship." and word spread quickly throughout the plant.

Bob was the plant oilman and could go anywhere in the plant without suspicion. No one would question what he was doing. His job was to make sure all the machinery had the proper oil levels. It wasn’t too long before Bob walked into the shop. The reason they call him “Smilin Bobby” was immediately apparent. He had the biggest smile I had ever seen. He came over to me and said, "You the guitar player?" I said, "Yes". " You got a PA system?” he asked, through a mile wide grin. "Yes", I said once again. "You want to jam with some friends of mines." I replied "Sure." He then proceeded to give me directions and a time. Then off he went pushing his oil cart ahead of him. He looked back and said, "Don’t forget the system."

We met in a place called Del Morocco II which is located on the corner of Lake and Halsted. This was in the area of the city’s restaurateurs’ market. Bob had the regular gig on Sunday night from six to midnight. I arrived in my red Corvair fully loaded with my PA system in the back seat and bass amp in the front seat. The guitar just fit on top of the speakers in back. I often wonder how I avoided getting a ticket since there was no way of seeing out the back window.

I walked into the club and to my surprise, I was the only white person there. I did not think much about the race issue back then, like some of those other idiotic morons. Don’t let me get started about those clowns! I didn't have much experience with racism. That first Sunday my experience was enhanced when someone yelled out, “Who let the M****** f***ing Police in here.” Bobby yelled out, “Leave my Brother alone y’all.” He meandered over to me and said, “You bring the PA?” I told him it was in the car. We walked outside to fetch it. When he saw my bass amp, he told me very diplomatically that he had a bass player. He then went to his car pulled out a beat up Ibanez guitar and he handed it to me, “You can play this.” I admit that I knew the basics of the blues I-IV-V, but never really played it in a band before. I played the guitar through my Peavey 400 bass amplifier.

Those six hours were the greatest six hours of my life. Well, its definitely in the top ten. Man, oh, man the sound that came out of that little beat up bar was incredible. I learned more that night then some artists do in a life time. And I was found there every Sunday night for the next two years. You see, that was my Sunday church. That’s where I was baptized in the blues.

I remember one night I showed up there and the police had the whole place surrounded.........hmmmmmmmmm. Stay tuned for more upcoming stories and interviews.

BLUES ME OR LOSE ME,

Terrance “Gatorman” Lape
my latest album is Mark Of the Gator available at;
http://mp3.rhapsody.com/terry-lape/mark-of-the-gator/feeds.html
visit me at; http://www.livebluesworld.com/profile/TerranceLape