Ginger Accident moves city to Slow Joe's tune

AHMEDABAD: Two musicians, Slow Joe and Cedric de la Chapelle from Goa and France - sang together in Transmusicales in Rennes in 2009, from where the soulful musical journey of The Ginger Accident began. The city got a glimpse of the music at Natarani on Saturday, brought here by Alliance Francaise d'Ahmedabad.
With bass artist Alexis Morel, keyboardist Denis Trofleau and drummer Josselin Varenge, and Cedric on the Guitar, Joe sang his own poetic creations, and crooned covers, throwing in between endearing kisses and patches of nostalgia of his Indian past.
He is your quintessential Goan old man - elegant in a black suit, with felt hat in hand, his soul-stirring music steeped in blues - narrating love and passion in tunes like 'Money Mama', 'Just one touch', and 'You with your eyes and smile'.
Just as the audience at Natarani warmed to the man, the musical entourage left Joe alone on the stage to sing Sinatra's 'What now my love'. With a baritone true to the spirit of the song, Joe also infused improvisations that made the song belong to him. A number from Pink Floyd, 'Set the control for the heart of the sun' followed to show how the man, 68, and a former drug addict, has a voice of gold.
That the audience kept asking for more and made the band do an encore after they had bid adieu for the night, showed the 'Sunny Side Up' (their first album released in October this year) of The Ginger Accident.