Cue up Christmas 2021: What festive tunes did Mumbai musicians grow up listening to?

For many of Mumbai's Catholics, Christmas has been all about food, drink and singing along to the playlist of Christmas carols. The annual ritual of listening to Jim Reeves, Boney M and more usually started as soon as the month of December arrived. For several city musicians, these were some of the most formative moments in their introduction to music, and played a role in nudging them to pursue the art.

Mid-day.com reached out to three artists in the city, who picked out favourite tracks from among the Christmas tunes that filled their homes.

Cyril John Thomas, guitarist, Sabotage India
For city-based rhythm guitarist Cyril John Thomas, Christmas is a family affair -- all about the food and music. "During Christmas, my parents always played Boney M and Elvis Presley on the tape recorder while food was being cooked in the background. Since my father was a huge vinyl collector, he used to play the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin too."

It was also around this time that the 26-year-old was introduced to country music and the blues by way of BB King. "I was definitely inspired to become a musician during this time," he says, with a sense of realisation. Later, at 15, being introduced to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica and Linkin Park became the stepping stone for him to take up music seriously. In 2017, Thomas, who is now a digital marketer by day and musician by night, decided to start his own thrash metal band, Sabotage India. Four years later, they have released two full-length albums and there's no looking back.

Ask Thomas about his favourite Christmastime song and he immediately says: "Let it Snow by Frank Sinatra." It was something he grew up listening to while his family feasted on beef chilly, chicken curry and rice, fish and more. Unfortunately, their celebrations will not be as grand this year because of a death in the family but the tradition will be continued in a small way, he says.

Astrid Alphonso, vocalist, Astrid and the Misfits, and Wasabi Girls
City-based vocalist Astrid Alphonso, the youngest in her family, grew up listening to a wide variety of music from a very early age. She remembers how passionate both her parents were about music and how they would have classics playing at home quite often. "Sometimes they would even break into dance together and it was so wonderful to watch," says Alphonso, who is a full-time vocalist. While her father loved country and western, it was the classics for her mother. Her sister and brother listened to hip hop/RnB and rock. "All of these played such a huge role in influencing me as a musician," she adds.

This was especially true of the festive season. The month of December saw the Alphonso family listening to every version of the popular Christmas carols out there. She reminisces, "I remember every Christmas we would have Boney M's Christmas album playing on loop, while we attempted to decorate the three-storey Christmas tree outside my house, which always amused me because we could never quite reach all the levels." That album famously includes Feliz Navidad, Little Drummer Boy and When A Child Is Born but Alphonso loves all its tracks equally. While Alphonso is a vocalist for her bands ‘Astrid and the Misfits', and ‘Wasabi Girls', she is also a budding disc jockey (DJ). This is because of her unfailing love for music, which she gets from her family. It is also why Alphonso, who lost her mother eight years ago and her father less than a month ago, believes that their music lives on in her siblings and her.

Arnold Glenn Phillips, guitarist, Sutledge
Music was one of the favourite aspects of Christmas for guitarist Arnold Glenn Phillips, whose thrash metal band Sutledge has been active in the city's underground scene for 11 years now. "I remember when we were kids, my dad would play Christmas carols as soon as he woke up at 7 am. It used to be a vacation for us, and the bright sunlight would be coming in as Silver Bells by Jim Reeves played on the cassette player: ‘Silver Bells, Silver Bells, soon it will be Christmas Day'. It was very beautiful and simply brought the Christmas cheer, and it still gives me goosebumps." While Reeves was one of the favourites during this time, Kenny G and Tommy Emmanuel were also heard in his home.

The musical influence is evident in Phillips' lineage. His uncle Manfred Phillips was a part of a city-based band Crimson Rage before he passed away last year. At home, his parents always played music, and like him, his brother plays the guitar too. "My dad and mom owned cassettes and they used to listen to classics like Jim Reeves, Engelbert (Humperdinck), Elvis (Presley), The Beatles, Bee Gees, ABBA, Tom Jones, Everly Brothers and Kenny G. My brother has always been into the blues and classic rock and so we always played the likes of Bryan Adams as well as metal music," says the 30-year-old sales professional from Goregaon.

With such a rich music listening history, ask Phillips how he started playing thrash metal and he says it all started with him being introduced to Metallica's Nothing Else Matters by his brother. Life has never been the same for him since then. "Around that time, a cousin of mine who lived in Bahrain burned a CD and sent it for us with ‘Enter Sandman', ‘Creeping Death' as well as Bon Jovi tracks like ‘Shot through the Heart', ‘You Give Love A Bad Name', Ozzy Osbourne. Then, my brother bought an Iron Maiden CD Brave New World and we literally played it from morning to the evening and I know literally every word from every song of that album," says Phillips proudly.