CHENNAI: An evening with blues baron, Roland Van Campenhout performing with Chennai’s very own Incarcerated had several enthusiastic takers during a recent performance at Landmark, Citi Centre, organised by The Exodus. With popular favourites from Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix and Gary Moore, led by a rather versatile Melvin Ranjan on vocals, it was evident that classic records from the 60’s and 70’s will never quite fade into obscurity, unlike so many bands and artistes on the current charts.Ironically, the stage was set in Landmark’s Carnatic and Hindustani music section. So while young college goers bobbed their heads back and forth to cover versions of Come Together (The Beatles) and Red House (Jimi Hendix), it did in fact seem like one was joined by seasoned Indian singers, getting their dose of blues rock just the same.Asked whether the Belgian guitar player has any future collaborations with Indian musicians in mind, he says, “Well, the last time I was in Chennai I got to watch Chithra Veena player, Ravikaran perform and I have also seen Pandit Ravi Shankar play in Europe, which was brilliant. In future, I would definitely like to try a mix between jazz and classical Indian music.”Perhaps, the high point of the evening was Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd) that was followed by an impressive set of guitar solos, courtesy Roland and Mangtinlam Kipgen.
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