(Luna Soleil dances with a hula hoop during the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016.)
Little Village Foundation Presents …
Veteran keyboardist and producer Jim Pugh brought out some of the Bay Area’s finest to not one, but two stages for three hours of uniquely local must at the festival Sunday. Taking over the Porch and Arrow stages, Pugh’s nonprofit record label brought Wee Willie Walker, Aireene Espiritu, Mariachi Mestizo, John Blues Boyd and Aki Kumar.
“You guys ready for some blues? You guys ready for some Bollywood?” Kumar asked from the Arrow Stage. “Well, you came to the right place.”
The Bombay-born singer and harmonica player who melds his passion for American blues and love for his homeland’s Bollywood tunes, got the crowd stomping and singing along with catchy songs like “Badan Pe Sitaare,” “Jaanu Meri Jaan” and the ever-so-fun “Eeena Meena Deeka.”
“Now who out there knows what the heck I was saying?” he said, with a laugh.
Judging by the applause Kumar received, it didn’t matter.
October 2, 2016