A couple of years ago, we were having dinner with friends in downtown Sunnyvale when I heard live music coming from the bar next door. It was a blues number I recognized, so naturally I was paying attention. But then came an old Bollywood favorite sung in blues style and that was enough for me to quickly finish dinner and head over to find out what was going on.
That was our first introduction to Aki Kumar and his music.
Aki is a San Jose-based harmonica player and vocalist originally from Mumbai, and his music brings together traditional blues with the Indian music he grew up listening to. We’ve caught several of his performances around the Bay Area since, and they’re always fun, especially with a group of friends.
There’s another reason I remember that first evening so well. I ended up talking to someone at the bar while listening to the music. We became friends that night and, years later, are still close.
A Saturday afternoon in Half Moon Bay
This past weekend, we decided to drive from Sunnyvale to Half Moon Bay to catch Aki again, this time with a couple of his bandmates at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company.
It was a small, intimate setup and a pretty great way to spend a Saturday afternoon: grab a beer, attempt to make our way through a giant plate of nachos, and listen to some excellent blues mixed in with Aki’s renditions of old Bollywood classics.
We were sitting at one of the community tables when a couple visiting from Livermore joined us. They hadn’t actually come there to see Aki. They’d finished lunch nearby, heard someone playing the harmonica while walking past, and came in to check it out.
Which, of course, led to us telling them how we had first stumbled upon Aki ourselves.
Then we found out that one of them owns a bar and is interested in bringing artists into their space. I loved that little coincidence.
A few years ago, music coming from a bar made me walk in and discover an artist I’ve continued to follow. This weekend, someone else heard Aki playing from outside and did the same. And perhaps that introduction eventually leads to another artist playing in another local space.
This is the kind of local discovery we love
There are plenty of ways to find things to do around the Bay Area. But some of my favorite discoveries still happen because you hear something, see something, talk to someone, or simply decide to walk through a door. And sometimes the thing you take away isn’t only the performance you watched.
That first Aki Kumar show gave me an artist whose music I still seek out years later, and, unexpectedly, a wonderful friendship.
This weekend gave us a lovely afternoon in Half Moon Bay and a conversation with two strangers who had followed the same harmonica into the room.
These are exactly the kinds of artists, spaces and small experiences I want to keep sharing through What’s Local. If you haven’t heard Aki Kumar live before, particularly his Bollywood Blues, he’s absolutely worth adding to your list.
