Page 44 - Seniorstoday February 2022 Issue
P. 44
For over five decades, Tull has had a special rock, medieval elements, British and Celtic
place in rock music history, making a mark folk music, and even electronic sounds for a
with albums like Aqualung, Thick As A brief period, and the vocals are nothing like
Brick, Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses the high-pitched ones we have heard in Led
and the Grammy award-winning Crest Of Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Iron Maiden.
A Knave. It has been a prime example of a To top it all, drugs have been a no-no. Yet,
cult act, one with a substantially large and Jethro Tull has its own unique sound and
dedicated following, but not something own set of diehard fans.
that the masses would know of. Even with Anderson has been the proverbial head
The Zealot Gene, while the excitement has honcho. Born in Scotland on August 10,
been high among ardent followers and 1947, his family moved to Blackpool,
members of various fan groups, it hasn’t England, when he was 12. The group was
least affected a huge section of typical rock formed in 1967 and soon played in the
music listeners, who like their music loud London club scene under different names.
and guitar-driven. The band was finally named Jethro Tull after
India has had a set of admirers too, many the inventor of the agricultural tool called
currently in the 50-70 age group. Most of seed drill. In an earlier interview to this
the early albums have done well, first when writer, Anderson had said, “It was our agent
recorded on tape, and later when released by in 1968 who suggested the name. I didn’t
EMI Music. Anderson has done four concert know it was really a dead guy who invented
tours of India, beginning in 1994. In 2004, the seed drill 200 hundred years before, as
Tull played a concept show with flautist Pt I hadn’t covered that period of history at
Hariprasad Chaurasia and two years later school.”
with the band Alms For Shanti, formed by
rock band Indus Creed’s Uday Benegal and
Jayesh Gandhi. In 2008, Anderson and
the new line-up played with sitar exponent
Anoushka Shankar.
Tull played a concept show with flautist Pt Hariprasad
Chaurasia Stand Up featured Anderson’s eclectic musical persona
In many ways, Tull is everything that a The band’s first album, This Was from
rock band shouldn’t be. Its main instrument 1968, was rooted in the blues. The original
is the flute, which very few groups have guitarist Mick Abrahams was replaced by
touched. The music has been inspired by Barre, and in the follow-up album Stand Up,
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