The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai announces the much-awaited festival, NCPA Soulful Blues.

The 2-day festival is being organized for the first time and is scheduled to take place on the weekend of Saturday 18^th and Sunday 19^th March 2023. The Soulful Blues festival will feature acclaimed international artistes that have made their mark in the MOBO house of fame, promising to make it a memorable two days of blues and soul, with host Brian Tellis. The line-up includes MOBO-nominated artiste Natalie Williams and the Soul Family Band, Beatrice Kahl+b.groovy with Joan Faulkner and David Tobin.

K N Suntook, Chairman, NCPA said, “We are truly elated to bring soul and blues music to India with Soulful Blues music festival. NCPA has always focused on introducing and promoting various music genres and with Soulful Blues we want people to look beyond the conventional music genres. We are hoping to create interest among the masses and receive quality response from the audience to make this a recurring annual event.”

On Day One 18^th March, performances will be seen by Beatrice Kahl+b.groovy with Joan Faulkner and David Tobin. Beatrice Kahl comes from a family of musicians and performed in her father's combo when she was twelve. She studied cultural education at the University of Hildesheim, majoring in music. Since 1999 she has been working as a freelance musician. With her own band b.groovy she plays groovy arranged pop hits in a new guise.

Joan Faulkner is, quite simply, the Voice. Her repertoire today includes jazz, blues, soul, pop – and even a techno smash single in Austria and Belgium. The Voice is behind some of Germany’s best-selling musical exports. It is safe to say that Joan Faulkner is one of the best American voices on the Continent.

For Joan, there is only one way to sing, namely live. Which is only natural given her roots playing smaller jazz and blues clubs. This is something you can still feel in her superb sense of timing and stage presence.

David Tobin has had a long and varied career as a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and Musical Director. He has many years of composing, arranging and orchestration credits in film, TV, and theatre.

He's a master at creating orchestral/crossover scores for advertising and commercials as well as film trailers. David has worked on stages all over the UK and through Europe as an M.D. and conductor and has been a regular guest lecturer at the Birmingham Conservatoire on film scoring where he previously ran an annual film scoring summer school.

On Day Two 19^th March, The Soul Family Band, fronted by MOBO nominated vocalist, Natalie Williams is scheduled to perform. Natalie Williams is one of the UK's most endearing and popular soul/jazz artists, singer-songwriter with 9 critically acclaimed albums under her belt and a dedicated following that extends throughout the world.

Get ready for a soulful evening with the best of blues in the city that has none.

Venue

Tata Theatre, NCPA

Date & Time

18 March 2023 | 6:30 pm

19 March 2023 | 6:30 pm

Tickets can be booked through BookMysShow or on the NCPA website.