Mumbai hotel foyers keep the live music tradition going in a time of EDM fever

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'If you don't feel it, you're not really playing it'
Born in an Anglo Indian family from Bandra, Ivan Rodericks grew up listening to the piano. Once, when his sister made a mistake with the keys, Rodericks called her out. "She was surprised how I had figured, because I wasn't learning music. I told her, 'It's all about feeling the music. If you don't feel it, you're not really playing it'," he says.

Ivan Rodericks has been playing in the JW Marriott lobby for the last 13 years. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The belief has stayed with him. At 78, he travels from his Mount Mary Road home to JW Marriot Mumbai Juhu three times a week, to play the piano in the five-star's foyer. It has been his routine for 13 years.

Dressed in a white tux and black tie, you can tell he is popular around the lobby. Through most of his career, Rodericks' repertoire was restricted to Western music. But that changed when a little boy from Surat, whose parents had put up at the hotel, approached him to play Rabta from Agent Vinod.

Ivan Rodericks plays at the JW Marriot Mumbai Juhu three days a week from 7 to 11 pm. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

"I obliged, but that's when I realised the folly of my youth. I had been stuck up. There are so many people to please. I have a long way to go."

Ivan Rodericks
Pianist, JW Marriot, Juhu

'I'm a fly-on-the-wall performer'
In 2005, Jarrod Wood left his New Zealand home to come to India and train under bansuri maestro Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. After sending him some of his demo tapes, the maestro agreed to train him. Since then, Wood has made the city his home. For the last 12 years, he has played a fusion of the flute and the saxophone at the Dome.

Jarrod Wood

"The place has always drawn an interesting mix of people — from ladies from old, moneyed families of Malabar Hill to the young couple seeking a good first impression. I love being a fly on the wall when performing," he says. Wood's brand of music often evokes surprising reactions from guests. "They love that the sound is nothing like what they've heard beore.'

Jarrod Wood
Flautist and saxophonist, Dome, InterContinental, Marine Drive

'If I don't keep up, I'll lose out'
Each time Angelo Colaco performs, he ensures the crowd is involved. Painfully shy off stage, his persona behind the mic gets a makeover. "I make it a point to memorise names of those in the audience, because they love it when you address them personally in a crowd. It makes them feel special," he says. Colaco has a diary where he maintains a
guest list.

Angelo Colaco. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

The Santacruz resident started his career in the 1980s, when it was common to witness seven-piece bands. It was the '90s that saw the bands shrink in size.

"At the time, I was playing with seven other performers at a swish hotel in South Bombay, and they decided to downsize. Fortunately, they offered me a job at their coffee shop," he recalls. After singing jazz and English pop, Colaco began taking requests for mainstream desi numbers. This meant he had to brush up his Hindi and Bollywood knowledge. Now, throw a Marathi or Punjabi request at him, and he won't bat an eyelid. "If I don't keep up, I'll end up losing out."

Angelo Colaco
Drummer and vocalist, Orchid Hotel, Santacruz

'It was never about the money'
AS a teenager, Steven Goes would wait for Saturday afternoons to listen to Radio Ceylon, the station that played English chartbusters. "I'd sit with a notebook and furiously jot down the lyrics. If you got it wrong, you had to wait another week for a listen," he remembers.

Steven Goes. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

Goes still has those books. Now, when he plays at Hotel Mirage twice a week, one of those sits open in front of him. "I still use a keyboard with floppies, and patrons get amused," he laughs. His playlist, too, consists of classics of Tom Jones, Neil Diamond and Billy Joel.

"I politely decline when I'm asked to sing a Beiber," he says. Goes, who is known for his deep voice, was nicknamed Jim by his peers for his impeccable impersonation of American country singer, Jim Reeves. "Back in the '60s, Reeves was the rage. If you'd pass the Catholic village, you'd hear only him on stereos. He was known for his melancholic songs, a result of a failed marriage," Goes shares.

The musician started his career with a band named Mind Rockers that would play at weddings. He moved away when he felt the scene was getting crowded. "It was never about the money. I started off with R800 a month in 1974. Today, I get R1,800 for a performance. It's still measly, but it's gratifying."

Steven Goes
Keyboardist and vocalist, Hotel Mirage, Andheri (East)

'You're only as good as your last show'
On the day of his gig, Brendon D'Souza rarely walks in to the hotel with a set playlist. All it takes is a careful scan of the audience, and he knows what they will like to hear.

Brendon D'Souza

"If I see young couples in the audience, I go for romantic tracks. However, there are times when people come to the bar to drown their sorrows after a funeral or when they are nursing a heartbreak. You need to gauge the mood and play accordingly," he says. Known for his high voltage performances, D'Souza developed the skill after touring the hotel circuit for decades. In all these years, he admits to having tried his luck with a dozen professions, ranging from arc welding to selling ladies handbags.

"But, it was music that I kept coming back to," the self-taught musician says. "I used to juggle jobs. Then one day at a performance, I was so stressed, I blacked out. I felt it was time to take a call," he says.

Today, D'Souza works the crowds at the five-star, CCI's Wet Wicket Bar and St Regis. And there's more than music that he is noticed for. "I have a suit in every colour. I have changed my look as many times as my profession," he jokes about his sartorial sense. But, like most musicians, he says, the ride is not easy. "Earlier, hotels were lenient; we'd bag yearly contracts. Now, event companies play middlemen. We sign three-month contracts. You are only as good as your last show."

Brendon D'Souza
Lead vocalist, ITC Grand Maratha, Sahar

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