Jenny: second coming

Eve, the ravishing original diva of Trincas, now lives in Teheran and is probably too old to exercise her vocal chords anymore. She won’t be around to belt out her trademark Lipstick on your collar, but Jenny, another old flame from the swinging Sixties, will croon Cabaret again as Park Street’s original live music lair seeks to pack a deja vu punch in its live set.

A month-long festival of live music at Trincas, starting with Shiva on May 15 and luring the likes of Jenny back on stage everyday starting May 25, promises a trip down nostalgia notes for old-timers while offering a beat boost to the Park Street rejuvenation plan.

“We are the only place on Park Street where live music never stopped, even during those extremely difficult days in the 80s after the state slapped a 30 per cent entertainment tax on live performance and all the other restaurants wound up their house bands,” recalls owner Sunny Puri.

Along with wife Shashi, an accomplished pianist herself, Sunny has drawn up plans to reposition Trincas as the entertainment hotspot it once was, with live music as the fulcrum for the makeover. Trincas will offer an alternative to Someplace Else next door and, hopefully, inspire other restaurants to follow suit.

“Trincas was the undisputed Mecca for musicians from all across the country throughout the 60s up until the early to mid-70s when the centre of gravity shifted to Blue Fox with Louis Banks and Pam Crain,” remembers veteran drummer Nondon Bagchi.

He first played at Trincas for the rock band Chequered Tricycle, which later evolved into Great Bear and then High.

From the house band that supported the immensely popular Eve to The Trojans and The Flintstones, Benny Rozario with his Vay Condios, Molly Myers and Usha with her signature California Dreaming, Trincas was a melting pot of melodies, and the Puris want to make it happen again.

“Next year is our golden jubilee and what better way to mark it than with live music? We are trying to establish contact with as many Trincas old-timers as possible, to be part of the celebrations,” says Shashi.

In the lead-up to the golden jubilee, the restaurant will continue to have “quality live music”.

Could this trigger a second coming of live rock and jazz across Park Street in a throwback to the heady 60s and 70s when Arthur Gracias played at Magnolia’s, Joe Perreira at Blue Fox, Delailah at Moulin Rouge and Shirley Myers at El Morocco (now Shenaz)?

It’s unlikely the trickle would become a flood soon, feels F&B players.

“The entertainment tax still makes live bands commercially non-viable,” points out Charles Mantosh, owner of both Magnolia and Moulin Rouge, where live music stopped playing almost two decades ago.

Nondon welcomes the Trincas initiative, but feels the main roadblock to a live music revival across Park Street could be the steady exodus of the Anglo-Indian community. “Where would you find such wonderful entertainers now?” he asks.

City-based architect and urban designer Monica Khosla Bhargava, steering the Park Street district revitalisation scheme for think-tank body Centre for Built Environment, sees a silver lining, though.

“This is a great step forward and the first stone laid in our programme. Trincas realises live music was one of Park Street’s USPs and wants to keep it going. We are sure others will pick up the thread of this value-addition soon because it helps prop up the brand that is Park Street,” she says.