IT’S a tryst with a tradition that Lou Majaw says he will never skip. After all, he established it, 34 years ago, and made it synonymous with his enchanting hometown. Since 1972, Majaw and his friends—who form the band ‘Great Society’ — have been celebrating legendary musician Bob Dylan’s birthday (on May 24) in Shillong by dedicating a concert to his music. And this year the concert just got bigger.

But back then, Majaw and his band were regulars on eastern India’s gig circuit, and Dylan was a wry, American tour-de-force who was telling it like it is, and in the course, influencing everyone from The Beatles to the common man.

Today, Majaw’s long locks are more grey than dark (after all, he will be 60 next year), and Dylan just turned 65. And even as Dylan began a new chapter to his career on his birthday this year as a satellite radio jockey, Majaw and Shillong united once again for the annual event that promises to bring Dylan down to Shillong next year.

SHILLONG, since long the rock concert mecca and now an international tourist destination, is about the best place to have a Dylan birthday concert. Dylan may probably not connect with the large, red paan stains on the roadsides, but the steep streets coloured with flowers make it an appropriate pilgrimage spot for hardcore Dylan fans.

Majaw, though, had able compatriots to help him in maintaining the tradition in veteran Kolkata musicians Nondon Bagchi (drums), Lew Hilt (bass), Arjun Sen (guitars), who together make up the band ‘Ace Of Spades’ that has been playing on Dylan’s birthday in Shillong since nine years. This time, though, ‘Ace Of Spades’ went a step ahead by including Kolkata father-son duo Anjan and Neel Dutt, and singer Liz Cotton.

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