The Mahindra Blues Festival has tickets selling out. But how is it helping this musical genre? Premium

The festival, conceptualised by the Mahindra Group, to help popularise its brand of tractors in the U.S., returns on Saturday after a three-year pandemic-induced interval. It is one of the country’s longest-running music festivals - but it has its fair share of criticism too

Every year, around Valentine’s Day, blues music fans from across India and the world meet for an annual date at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios. They congregate for the Mahindra Blues Festival.

It returns on Saturday after a three-year pandemic-induced interval, marking its 11th edition, which makes it one of the country’s longest-running music festivals. That’s an impressive run for a show dedicated to a niche genre that’s rarely performed on the regular gig circuit.

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Over the years, the festival has hosted such legends as Buddy Guy, who returns this time for a record fifth appearance, and Taj Mahal, who’s coming back after headlining in 2012. It has also treated us to debut India performances by a long list of blues music stars, including Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Randolph and the Tedeschi Trucks Band as well as rising talent like Guy’s protege Quinn Sullivan.

Guy, in fact, is the official ambassador and the main stage has been named the Polka Dot Parlour after the shirts that are part of his signature look. This year, another of his mentees, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, will visit.

While the origin of the blues has been traced to the mid-19th century when former slaves working on plantations in the deep south of the U.S. developed the music style, the Mahindra Blues Festival has a more prosaic provenance. It was conceptualised by the Mahindra Group to help popularise its brand of tractors among farmers in the U.S.

When the organisers realised that there were already many similar events in the U.S., they decided to hold it in India and position it as a cultural export of a genre beloved of their target customer base. “It seems incongruent that the festival’s here, but it has meant even more to the community,” says Jay Shah, vice president of cultural outreach at the Mahindra Group.