Bridging the Blues Day 2 with Heritage

As you probably can tell by now, this post is way later than it should have been. But nonetheless it definitely deserves coverage. Blues events don't feature locally as much as it should be in all honesty. In John Mayer's exact words "Blues.. is if you're human, you just get it." And the bands line up on the second day were everything the crowd wanted to see. Atwell Jansen's fronted Heritage took the stage first and was met immediately with the warmest reception from the audience.






Heritage may be overlooked in the eyes of most the Y generation, but if there is any authentic local Singaporean band that has come a long way, it has to be Heritage. (pun not intended again) A band that started way back in the 1970s (that's almost 40 years ago) with a music palette spanning across different genres such as rock, blues and jazz, they have carried the flag of Singapore to many overseas blues and rock festivals and concerts throughout this period to places as far as Holland and Amsterdam. Heritage was the first local band to release a self-produced album of 10 original compositions under the prestigious WEA label in 1979.




They have played at prestigious venues such as Harrys', Crazy Elephant, The Saxophone, The Blue Note, Victoria Theatre and the Esplanade. It is noteworthy that they have been awarded the Artistic Excellence award by COMPASS (Composers and Authors Society of Singapore) in May 2007. Here Esplanade has kindly allowed me to put one of their videos of their performance on that day itself and do read the interview I had with Atwell Jansen below.



I was excited to have been granted an audience with the man himself, Atwell Jansen. Throughout the conversation, he carried little airs about himself and was more than happy to share with me his vast experience over a cup of coffee if there had been a cafe nearby.

Hi Atwell could you tell me about yourself?

Atwell: Hi I'm Atwell Jansen and I play with the band Heritage. I play the violin, the flute, the harmonica and I sing as well.

How about the lineup?

Atwell: There's Ashlee Jansen plays the electric bass as well as lead vocals (he sang a couple of songs on the set). There's Sadeq who plays the electric bass as well and there's David McGuire who plays the drums and he's a PR here. Robert's on electric guitar.

How long has this band been around? We know it's been around for sometime but how long has it been?

Atwell: This band actually dates back to the early 70s but there have been couple of changes to the lineup. People have come and gone but one of the members that have stayed is the bassist. (Pointing to Sadeq the bassist and chuckling away)

We play a mixture of rock and blues, especially the progressive and the fusion type of blues. We do some of the blues, but we can't play blues the whole night, we have to move onto something more inventive. But you know, the blues is where it sprung from.

Oh yes the blues isn't just old man music.

Atwell: Exactly, exactly. We actually pick songs we like to do and where there are places we can improvise on because that's what we like to do.

Oh yes, I do notice some of the unique arrangements Heritage had on some of its covers. For a moment it seemed like it was going to end, but you guys brought it up a notch.

Atwell: Some of it was following the original and some of it evolved into our own arrangement. But we always choose songs where we can stretch out to. We're improvisers and thats the way we express ourselves.

Where is Heritage playing now currently?

Atwell: We're playing at a place called JJ Atlante in Duxton Rd. We've been playing there for 7 years because we've been giving the license to play freely. Most of our customers are expats and they've developed into a small following and the place has become a niche club where they can come and enjoy the music.

Do you get your fair share of support from the locals? A younger crowd perhaps?

Atwell: Oh yes we get our fair share from some of the locals - mostly from the older generation but some are young too. They havent been exposed to a wide variety of the music and they listen to some of the Jimi Hendrix covers we do, it opens their minds.

One final question for you sir. What's your take on our local music scene?

Atwell: I think the big trouble with our local scene is that there is not enough support for the musicians. Its not just music alone, but in general people do look towards the foreign stuff and I would really wish there would be more support for our local bands. Such as events like this. I actually feel that our local bands should be put in the concert halls instead of the Waterfront as it gives more credibility this way. Its like if you make it to playing inside the concert hall, its indicative of the kind of level a band has reached. Even for the Arts festival, I feel more of the local acts should be headlining the event.