Naresh Fernandes Talks TAJ MAHAL FOXTROT for NCPA Today

As a part of library positioning activity, the NCPA has initiated monthly event at which a book on/about the performing arts will be discussed. It could be an author-talk series, book discussion, reading session, book review or book launch, among other things. To start with, the organization has invited Mr. Naresh Fernandes to talk about his award-winning book Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age today, 16th January, 2013, 6-7 PM.

Meet the poignant Naresh Fernandes, author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age (for which he won the 2012 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize), as he presents an engaging account of the city's thriving music scene between the 1930s and 1960s.

In 1935, a violinist from Minnesota named Leon Abbey brought the first "all-negro" jazz band to Bombay, leaving a legacy that would last three decades. In a decade, swing would and its way to the streets of India as it influenced Hindi film music - the very soundtrack of Indian life. The optimism of jazz became an important element in the tunes that echoed the hopes of newly independent India. This book tells the story of India - and especially the city of Bombay - through the lives of a menagerie of geniuses, strivers and eccentrics, both Indian and American, who helped jazz and a home in the sweaty subcontinent. They include the burly African-American pianist Teddy Weatherford; the Goan trumpet player Frank Fernand, whose epiphanic encounter with Gandhi drove him to try to give jazz an Indian voice; Chic Chocolate, who was known as the Louis Armstrong of India; Anthony Gonsalves, who lent his name to one of the most popular Hindi _lm tunes ever; and many more. Taj Mahal Foxtrot, at its heart, is a history of Bombay in swing time.

For more information, click HERE.