India’s Woodstock: Remembering 50th anniversary of Sneha Yatra

TORONTO: It was Diwali time in 1971. Eid also fell around the same time that year.

So there was holiday spirit in the air, which meant students, workers, professionals and just about everyone could come. The place was Malavli on the Western Ghats on the way from Mumbai (then Bombay) to Pune (then Poona).

The event: Sneha Yatra – India’s Woodstock!

After the successful screening of the movie Woodstock at Eros theatre in Mumbai a year earlier, the music industry thought a similar event in India would be a natural suite and preparations began in full swing. Rock bands from Delhi, Bangalore, Bombay, Goa and several other places were invited to play music of the well known rockers of that time, including Jethro Tull, Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and more.

But it didn’t end there. Many Indian classical musicians were also invited to show their prowess at this breakthrough event.

Among the mountains in the cool night breeze and pleasant day temperatures, with the feel of the earth and grass beneath their cement weary feet, about 4,000-5,000 guys and girls gathered to be bindaas, to be just what you feel like and rap with each other on social issues.

Says Kersi Khambatta, one of the marshals at the event, who now resides in Toronto, “Yaar, it was too much. Youth and all ages came from all over the country. There were music groups from all over India and from the UK also. I remember Kabir Bedi (Indian actor) and his sister who had a snake around her shoulders!”

Yes, indeed, there was Country Funk Revival, Atomic Forest, Twilight Zone, Brief Encounter, Inventions of Mothers (inspired by Frank Zappa’s ‘Mothers of Invention’), Human Bondage and numerous more bands.

Besides these groups , there were individual folk singers like Remo Fernandes (what a beautiful rendition of Don McLean’s  American Pie he did!), Ronnie Mistry (known for his covers of Bob Dylan songs ) who is now known as Rohinton Mistry – globally famous author having a star of his own on the Brampton Walk of Fame in Canada. Of course, Sharon Prabhakar was there too.

A few months before he passed away in 2014, Mumbai’s Maharaja of Rock Nandu Bhende, a personal friend of mine, mentioned that his experience was unreal. “Our band was playing at Blow-Up, the nightclub at the Taj Mahal Hotel (now Taj Palace) and as soon as we finished our show there, we all piled into a car and drove like bats out of hell to perform at Sneha Yatra. When we got there, everybody was crashed out under the Id moon crescent surrounded by zillions of stars. Just imagine that scene, Lachman! Serene, calm, cool, surreal and then we slammed into our music routine and woke everybody up. It was like The Who performing in the wee hours of the morning at Woodstock. Like we recreated that magic!”

Nandu was well known to create Dada moments!

Besides rock, and in keeping with Pandit  Ravi Shankar’s appearance at Woodstock, there were classical musicians also with sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan accompanied by virtuoso Latif Ahmed on the tabla. Mohammad Rashid Khan and Mohannad Sayeed Khan sang Tansen’s lyrics. Panna Mehta, Kumari Managala, Uday Raikar, Ashok Bellare and many more also performed.

Impromptu discussion and debate groups cropped up led by Professor Raman of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Kabir Bedi. The talks centred on youth identity and their inability to change anything due to the old established customs of Indian mores. Many were afraid that if they spoke up they would be branded and stigmatized thus not being able to get jobs and sustain themselves.

As can be ascertained, the most vocal and most anxious to change the system were those who were not from well to do families. The wrongs of the system hit them the hardest and they were more engaged in the conversations. But alas, no revolution came about. Things moved slowly then. It is only now that one sees things changing at a more rapid pace.

Finally, India’s three day Sneha Yatra inspired by the fabled Woodstock in the US came to end, with most having just enjoyed three peaceful days of music, discussions and fun at India’s first major music festival.

Lal, who made the scene in 1971 and is currently the proud owner of an awesome unique concept  Indian restaurant in St. Maarten where one can dine on Indian cuisine while listening to classic rock, says, “Boss, what do you want me to say? There is a famous saying: ‘if you remember the 60s, you weren’t there’. Similarly, if you remember India’s Woodstock, you weren’t there. And I was there.” Make what you will of that!

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