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

For many of Mumbairsquos 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 artMiddaycom reached out to three artists in the city who picked out favourite tracks from among the Christmas tunes that filled their homesCyril John Thomas guitarist Sabotage IndiaFor citybased rhythm guitarist Cyril John Thomas Christmas is a family affair all about the food and music ldquoDuring 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 toordquoIt was also around this time that the 26yearold was introduced to country music and the blues by way of BB King ldquoI was definitely inspired to become a musician during this timerdquo 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 fulllength albums and therersquos no looking backAsk Thomas about his favourite Christmastime song and he immediately says ldquoLet it Snow by Frank Sinatrardquo 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 saysAstrid Alphonso vocalist Astrid and the Misfits and Wasabi GirlsCitybased 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 ldquoSometimes they would even break into dance together and it was so wonderful to watchrdquo says Alphonso who is a fulltime vocalist While her father loved country and western it was the classics for her mother Her sister and brother listened to hip hopRnB and rock ldquoAll of these played such a huge role in influencing me as a musicianrdquo she addsThis 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 ldquoI remember every Christmas we would have Boney Mrsquos Christmas album playing on loop while we attempted to decorate the threestorey Christmas tree outside my house which always amused me because we could never quite reach all the levelsrdquo 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 lsquoAstrid and the Misfitsrsquo and lsquoWasabi Girlsrsquo 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 cityrsquos underground scene for 11 years now ldquoI 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 lsquoSilver Bells Silver Bells soon it will be Christmas Dayrsquo It was very beautiful and simply brought the Christmas cheer and it still gives me goosebumpsrdquo 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 Phillipsrsquo lineage His uncle Manfred Phillips was a part of a citybased 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 ldquoMy 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 musicrdquo says the 30yearold 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 Metallicarsquos Nothing Else Matters by his brother Life has never been the same for him since then ldquoAround that time a cousin of mine who lived in Bahrain burned a CD and sent it for us with lsquoEnter Sandmanrsquo lsquoCreeping Deathrsquo as well as Bon Jovi tracks like lsquoShot through the Heartrsquo lsquoYou Give Love A Bad Namersquo 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 albumrdquo says Phillips proudly