Independence Rock: How Mumbai's iconic rock festival came to life in August 1986

The festival Independence Rock gets its name from the fact that it was held annually on the August 15 weekend. Photo Courtesy: Farhad Wadia

Independence Rock (I-Rock) returns to the city this weekend at the Bayview Lawns in Mazgaon. Interestingly, I-Rock traces its history back to August 1986 at Malhar, one of Mumbai's most popular college festivals hosted every year by St Xavier's College, not too far away from Rang Bhavan, where it was hosted.

At the time, festival founder Farhad Wadia, who studied at the college, was part of a rock band called Mirage, which was supposed to perform at the cultural festival along with the likes of Rock Machine, the previous avatar of Indus Creed, one of India's most iconic rock bands. As they were set to play that year, Wadia says, the music concert was banned by the management. It was due to a reputation that made it unfavourable. Luckily for them, there was a huge rock music following in the city at the time, so they decided to do something about it.

Birth of Independence Rock
He narrates, "There was this enterprising guy, and I only remember his first name, it was Anurag. If he's out there somewhere, I'd really like to meet him and say hi, and thank him. So, Anurag called me and Mark, my partner in another business, and informed us that it has been cancelled but he said don't worry, I will do the concert at Rang Bhavan, and I have booked it. In those days, the booking fee at Rang Bhavan was Rs 800, and he had to pay our bands around Rs 12,000 to perform."

On the morning of the show, Wadia and his friends reached the venue with the equipment and had done the sound check, but Anurag wasn't to be found. Neither did they have tickets, nor did they know what he had done. "We had just seen posters. All he had done was put up posters at the festival and called it Independence Rock. This was a cheesy name, as far as I was concerned, but I said, 'hey, whatever, it was on August 15 okay, so, Independence Rock'," he explains.

However, as soon as they saw people forming a beeline outside the venue, they decided to go ahead with it. Among themselves, they decided to charge an entry fee for the money they needed to pay off the cost spent on light and sound and divide the rest between the two bands. Wadia called up his friends from karate class to help him man the gate and collect Rs 15 and then let people in. The former Mumbaikar, who will return to the city for the festival from the US, which is his new home, says as many as 5,500 people attended the two-day inaugural festival that year and everybody got paid. The rest, as they say, is history.

Reliving Mumbai and its rock fans of the 80s and 90s
It was a culmination of what the now 50-something music industry professional had spent as a child while selling tickets with his father, a family business, at the Rang Bhavan booking office. With the city brimming with music and rock fans, Wadia used to see guys in formal shirts come to the performance venue and completely change once they were there. "They would take off their shirts on the road, put on their black T-shirts. They used to have these plastic bags and would come to the booking office and tell my dad, 'Uncle, can you please keep this bag for me? I will take it after the concert. So, we actually set up a system, where we used to label these bags with their needs."

On one particular day, these actions piqued Wadia's interest and he couldn't help but ask one guy about this chain of events just before they entered the venue. He animatedly explains, "I stopped one guy and asked, ‘Why are you coming dressed like you're going to the office? Then you change into your black T-shirt, and then get high and come into the party. Why don't you come home in your black T-shirt?" Turns out their parents weren't in favour of rock music. So, they used to dress like they used to say they were going to their friend's house but instead land up to party at Rang Bhavan.

So, it was no surprise when Wadia wasn't sure that the crowd showed up and had a good time. Over the years, the stage has seen the likes of Parikrama, Zero, Indus Creed, Shiva as well as pop acts like Shweta Shetty, Jasmine Barucha, Lucky Ali, Shaan and even KK. So, we had to ask if he still thinks it could be a launchpad and the answer is affirmative and he says history is proof. "We have been the launchpad of bands like Demonic Resurrection, Pin Drop Violence, Half Step Down to name a few. We've been a launchpad for upcoming musicians. Maybe not upcoming musicians in this format but if you're a good band, you will get a platform to play," he adds.

Mumbai and its music tastes
When one talks about metal music, it is known that it has its own fan base. Many of the metal and rock bands this writer has spoken to in the city often consider themselves underground musicians, but Wadia believes otherwise. While they may not get the media coverage or platforms like radio stations and more to showcase their talent, he says, those are the days of the past because the internet is a medium and YouTube has given many a platform for their music.

Ask the US-based festival founder if he has seen Mumbai's music tastes evolve and he simply says its diversity remains from the time when he was here. That said, the city's diverse music tastes make it the ideal place for performances of all kinds even though Bollywood is a favourite among the masses. Giving an example of his house, he says, "I grew up in a house where my mom listened to The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Cliff Richards. My dad listened to Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar. So, I got a music education that was Hindi and English. So, I love old Indian music and I love English music too."

If there is one aspect that has grown which he loves is the fact that regional rap and rock music has picked up, among other genres not only in the city but also the country. He says, "Every band is cognizant of the music tastes so obviously you will see something that is tuned to 2022 and not 1970." It is no surprise then when he tells us that he finds Bloodywood, which is a part of the line-up, to be phenomenal.

Also Read: 'Good music is ageless and timeless', says Farhad Wadia as Independence Rock returns to Mumbai